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What can someone do with your birth certificate? More than you think. Here’s what to do if your birth certificate is lost, missing, or stolen.
July 6, 2023
Chief People Officer at Aura
Sofia serves as the Chief People and Customer Officer at Aura. Before Aura, she was the Chief People Officer at Zerto, a global IT resilience firm. She has an MS/BA in Economics from Northeastern University.
Reviewed by
Aura Cybersecurity Editor
Jory MacKay is a writer and award-winning editor with over a decade of experience for online and print publications. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Victoria and a passion for helping people identify and avoid fraud.
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See pricing Share this:An Ohio resident found out the hard way what can happen if you give scammers your birth certificate [*].
After receiving an automated message claiming he was under investigation by the Social Security administration for money laundering, the victim sent the caller an email including photos of his birth certificate and Social Security card.
It wasn’t until after sending the information that the victim realized he’d handed over everything a scammer needed to steal his identity.
Most of us don’t protect our birth certificates in the same way that we look after our passport or Social Security card. But scammers can use stolen birth certificates to obtain other forms of ID, open bank accounts in your name, or apply for fraudulent benefits.
If you think — or know — that someone has your birth certificate, you need to act quickly. In this guide, we’ll explain what fraudsters can do with your birth certificate, how to tell if someone is using it, and what to do if you become the victim of birth certificate fraud.
Your birth certificate holds more than your birth record. It reveals your full name, your place of birth, the names of your parents (perhaps even your mother’s maiden name), and, of course, your date of birth.
Together, these pieces of personally identifiable information (PII) give scammers more than enough data to steal your identity.
But that’s not even the biggest risk of a missing or stolen birth certificate.
Legally, your birth certificate can be used as an identifying document when applying for public assistance or pension benefits, gaining employment, applying for a driver’s license or passport, obtaining a Social Security card, and more.
Fraudsters know your birth certificate is a valuable document that can fuel their schemes. But how do they get it in the first place?
Here are the main ways that your birth certificate can end up in the wrong hands:
✅ Take action: If scammers have your birth certificate, your bank account and identity could be at risk. Try Aura’s top-rated identity theft protection free for 14 days to safeguard your accounts and sensitive information from scammers.
Yes. Identity theft is the main risk associated with a stolen or missing birth certificate.
Many people don’t realize how many legal and financial actions start with a proof of identity via a birth certificate. Scammers are especially interested in stolen birth certificates for these reasons:
Once your birth certificate falls into the wrong hands, how exactly does a con artist use it to wreak further havoc on your life? Here are a few examples in detail.
According to the U.S. Department of State, fraudulently obtained birth certificates are almost always behind passport and ID fraud [*].
Here’s how this insidious scam works:
Just like that, fraudsters can use your vital information to act as a U.S. citizen with an identity that’s not connected to who they really are.
Your birth certificate can offer an entry point into password-protected accounts because it contains information that often comes up in security questions, such as your mother’s maiden name.
If criminals use that information to hack your email account, they’ll search for sensitive information or initiate a password change request for your online bank or social media accounts — and then have the verification codes sent to an account to which they’ve already gained access.
Since birth certificates constitute proof of identity, financial institutions routinely accept them as proof of account ownership. A stolen birth certificate can give fraudsters access to your accounts or allow them to apply for new accounts, loans, and credit cards in your name.
In many cases, someone who has obtained your birth certificate might also have other important documents that belong to you. For example, if your information was stolen through a data breach, a full package of your sensitive data could be bought and sold by internet criminals on the Dark Web.
As scammers continue to use your stolen birth certificate, they’ll move from scamming you to targeting your friends and family.
Scammers reach out to people you know by creating fake online accounts that look like they belong to you. If these accounts seem convincing, your family and close acquaintances will have no reason to believe that you’re not the one sending the messages.
Then, the scammer can invent a sob story or a fake situation that compels your contacts to send money that will end up in the criminal’s pocket.
In this day and age, scammers aren’t as sloppy as people expect. They use skillful social engineering tactics to keep their targets from getting suspicious.
With the information on your birth certificate, scammers can search the Dark Web for more sensitive information — including your credit card numbers, online passwords, and Social Security number (SSN).
Unfortunately, few people know whether their personal information is for sale on the Dark Web. That’s where a free Dark Web scanner can be very useful. Aura’s free leaked password scanner checks known Dark Web forums and marketplaces, as well as recent data breaches, to see if any of your information has been leaked.
Your birth certificate is the ideal supporting document for collecting benefits.
Whoever steals your birth certificate can use it to commit tax fraud, healthcare fraud, or collect government benefits on your behalf. To make matters worse, most victims of these types of fraud don’t realize it’s happening until thieves have inflicted significant damage.
Child identity theft is often more alluring to scammers than stealing an adult’s identity.
Since children don’t have credit histories, and family members usually aren’t monitoring their kids’ information for suspicious activity, any fraud committed against children will probably go unnoticed until they turn 18.
For identity thieves, a child’s identity is a blank slate. Once they get ahold of your child’s birth certificate and keep digging, they’ll have enough to carry out any number of fraudulent activities in your child’s name.
Don’t assume that you’ll notice immediately if someone starts using your personal information. Instead, stay vigilant and learn how to detect fraud at its earliest stages.
Here are some of the major warning signs that you’re a victim of identity theft or other fraud:
If you lose your birth certificate, you need to act quickly to secure your accounts and private information. Follow these steps before requesting a new birth certificate to limit the damage scammers can do.
Use the bullet points above as a checklist. Have one or more of these incidents happened to you since losing track of your birth certificate?
Remember that checking your credit report is a vital part of any search for warning signs.
You’re entitled to a free credit report each year at AnnualCreditReport.com — one from each of the three main credit reporting agencies (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax). Now is the time to take advantage of this service.
Since birth certificate fraud is so difficult to detect, unreported incidents allow more of these crimes to remain hidden.
Use this online tool to find your local vital statistics or records office and report your missing birth certificate.
Because your birth certificate is such an important document, your risk of identity theft is high.
As soon as you realize your birth certificate is missing, report the incident to the Federal Trade Commission at IdentityTheft.gov. The FTC will provide you with a recovery plan and a report that you can use to dispute fraud and prove that you’re the victim of identity theft.
Filing a police report with your local law enforcement agency is an important step to take after you’ve been the victim of identity fraud, as a police report can help you dispute any criminal activity that fraudsters commit under your name. Bring a copy of your FTC report, as well as any other supporting documents, to your local police station and explain what happened to an officer.
Scammers are almost always financially motivated. Your credit report is one of the first places that you’ll see signs that a scammer has used your stolen birth certificate to commit financial fraud against you.
Request your free credit report from all three of the major credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) and look for suspicious activity. For added security, consider signing up for an identity theft protection service with three-bureau credit monitoring.
Aura constantly monitors your credit file, bank accounts, investment accounts, and credit cards for signs of fraud. And because Aura has a direct connection to the credit bureaus, you’ll find out about fraud up to 4X faster than other services. Try Aura free for 14 days and see if it’s right for you.
A credit lock or freeze prevents anyone from accessing your credit file — which makes it almost impossible for scammers to take out new lines of credit or open new accounts in your name.
If someone with criminal intent has access to your birth certificate, they won’t be able to get to your accounts — if you get there first.
Any time your identity is at risk, your online accounts need an immediate security boost.
Change the passwords on all of your online accounts and make them as strong as possible. Set up two-factor authentication (2FA) whenever you can, and use a password manager to create and store unique, secure passwords.
Identity theft can start small but grow quickly. If your birth certificate has been stolen, it can lead to ongoing damage to your finances and reputation. Even worse, if your birth certificate was put up for sale on the Dark Web, you could face ongoing instances of identity theft.
An identity theft protection service like Aura monitors your sensitive information and proactively safeguards you from scammers.
With Aura, you get:
✅ Take action: Keep yourself and your family safe from the dangers of identity theft. Try Aura free for 14 days and enjoy peace of mind whenever you work, connect, bank, or shop online.
Once you’ve secured your accounts and reported the incident to authorities, it’s time to replace your missing birth certificate.
Here’s how to get a new birth certificate:
Your state vital records office is the best place to get a replacement birth certificate. While there are online services that claim they can get you a replacement faster, they almost always charge more than the actual cost. Even worse, some of these are phishing sites designed to steal your sensitive information.
If you have any doubts that you may not be dealing with a legitimate company, research them via the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
As long as criminals stand to gain from stealing sensitive documents like birth certificates, they’ll continue to invade the privacy of countless unsuspecting targets. Don’t leave your digital security, identity, and finances open to fraudsters.
For comprehensive online protection — including 24/7 monitoring, near real-time fraud alerts, and $1 million in identity theft insurance — consider signing up for Aura.
Editorial note: Our articles provide educational information for you to increase awareness about digital safety. Aura’s services may not provide the exact features we write about, nor may cover or protect against every type of crime, fraud, or threat discussed in our articles. Please review our Terms during enrollment or setup for more information. Remember that no one can prevent all identity theft or cybercrime.
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