Can you redeem a birth certificate bond?
No, it’s a scam—your birth certificate isn’t actually a bond. While parts of the birth certificate bond theory may make sense, the reality is that your birth certificate is just a record of your birth. A birth certificate proves you exist and gives you proof of your citizenship, but there’s no money attached to it. If anybody claims they can get you money by cashing in your birth certificate bond, they’re 100% trying to scam you. A lot of online services will sell videos, webinars, and coaching sessions claiming to help you use your birth certificate to wipe out your debts, but it’s a ruse to get money out of you. There’s nothing actually connected to your birth certificate. It’s a document that on its own proves you exist, but that’s all it does. The same goes for your social security number.
What is the logic of the birth certificate bond scam?
These bonds are supposedly debts attached to birth certificates. According to the scammers selling this story, the US went bankrupt in the 1930s when it abandoned the gold standard. To pay for these debts, the US government supposedly took out sellable debt (in the form of bonds) against US citizens. One of these supposed bonds is tied to your birth certificate. The idea of birth certificate bonds is closely tied to the strawman account theory, which states that US citizens have two identities: the “living person” and the citizen paper (the strawman). These are both core tenants of the Sovereign Citizen movement.
Problems with Birth Certificate Bond Theory
There’s no mechanism to actually redeem a birth certificate. To redeem a US bond, you either enter the bond’s serial number online via Treasury Direct, or get the bond notarized and mail it to the government. You can’t do either of those things with a birth certificate.
You can already access any bonds in your name. If you did theoretically have a bond in your name, you can already find and redeem them. They’re either a paper bond you’d redeem via Treasury Direct, they’re in your Treasury Direct account, or they’re in your brokerage account. In all three cases, you wouldn’t need to “unlock” anything to find bonds you own. There are no “hidden” or secret accounts out there holding bonds for you. This includes the infamous “exemption account” a lot of birth certificate bond believers talk about. The treasury, banks, and financial institutions are legally required to send you statements every year (at a minimum—often they send monthly statements). If you’ve never received mail about your birth certificate bond, it’s a strong sign it doesn’t exist.
Accounts in your name must be opened by you. Parents are able to open custodian accounts for their children if they want to help them save for their future, but outside of that, it’s impossible for anyone to open an account for you, let alone put bonds in the account. The federal government has a lot of power, but it can’t just invent accounts for citizens. If you’re curious whether you have an account with a particular institution, call them! Give them your name and date of birth—they’ll tell you if you’ve got an account with them.
The US never went bankrupt in the 1930s. The whole birth certificate bond theory is based on the idea that the government went bankrupt after getting off the gold standard in 1933. In reality, the US just got off of the gold standard after England did it and it had zero consequences on the UK. Getting rid of the gold standard makes it easier for the government to set monetary policy. The US didn’t do it because it was bankrupt. It wasn’t. The national debt isn’t a normal debt like one carried by a business or household. The United States has a monopoly on the issuance of the US dollar, and with the ability to sell bonds, the “debt” can be rolled (theoretically) forever.
Avoiding Birth Certificate Bond Scams
Don’t pay anyone to file paperwork for you to make money. We get it if you want to hire a CPA to do your taxes, and it’s 100% a smart move to hire a lawyer for legal documents, but bond redemption is something you can always do on your own. Anybody promising to give you money or clear your debts in exchange for you paying the filing fee is running a scam. Don’t fall for it. If you still don’t believe us on this one, just reach out to a qualified attorney or fiduciary and ask them.
Keep your personal info to yourself to avoid identity theft. A lot of these scammers won’t even ask for payment up front—they’ll just ask for your social security number, date of birth, and other info under the guise that they need it to get you your money. The reality is that they’re just scamming you for your information and you won’t get any money back. Never share your info with strangers! It’s okay to provide that kind of material to your bank, your employer, and any lawyers/accountants you’re working with. Don’t give your info away to anyone else.
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