1. NO REDEEMING VALUE: SHAM
SIGHT DRAFTS, MALICIOUS
MONEY ORDERS AND
COUNTERFEIT CHECKS
Redemption: An Anti-Government
Scheme to Rob Your Bank
Through Fraudulent Instruments
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2. What is the Scam?
“Redemptionists” are anti-government
extremists who create fraudulent or bogus:
▫ Checks
▫ Sight drafts
▫ Money orders
▫ Bills of exchange &
▫ Other instruments, claiming that they are drawn
on valid Treasury or I.R.S. accounts
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3. What do Redemptionists Want to do
With These Bogus Instruments?
• They want to deposit the items
• Then later withdraw the money provisionally
credited by the bank through:
▫ Wire transfers
▫ Checks drawn on the account, or
• They want to pay off a large debt, such as a car
note or mortgage
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4. What You Might Hear
From a Redemptionist
The story you may hear to “prove” the item is
legitimate is something like:
▫ The U.S. went off the gold standard in 1933;
federal government went bankrupt
▫ Secret bank accounts are created for each citizen
at birth and held at the U.S. Treasury or I.R.S.
▫ Each person can access, or “redeem,” their
account by using these bogus sight drafts, etc.
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5. What to Look for: Legal-Sounding
Buzzwords/Odd Punctuation
• Redemptionists use legal-sounding words in
their documents to intimidate bank personnel
• They also use their own code of punctuation
• Some examples include:
▫ “U.C.C.” or “U.C.C. – 1”
▫ “Certificate of Live Birth”
▫ “Attorney-in-fact”
▫ Names in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
▫ Odd punctuation of names, typically
involving colons and hyphens (John-
Sidney:Doe)
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6. What do These Items Look Like?
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9. What Should I Do If I Receive
A Bogus Item?
• Contact bank security as soon as possible
▫ Security should contact the authorities
▫ A Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) will need to be
filed by the appropriate bank personnel in accordance
with federal laws and regulations
• Do not submit the item for processing, even
if it has a valid routing number
▫ Redemptionists may use valid Treasury or other
routing numbers to avoid holds– don’t be fooled!
These are counterfeit items!
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10. Resources
• Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Alert 99-10,
August 6, 1999, “Fictitious Sight Drafts,”
http://www.occ.treas.gov/altlst99.htm (last viewed Aug. 23,
2010)
• Bureau of the Public Debt, “Bogus Sight Drafts/Bills of
Exchange Drawn on the Treasury,”
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/statreg/fraud/fraud_bo
gussightdraft.htm (last viewed Aug. 23, 2010)
• Southern Poverty Law Center, Beyond Redemption,
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-
report/browse-all-issues/2002/winter/beyond-redemption,
Winter 2002 (last visited on Aug. 23, 2010)
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11. For More Information Contact
Randy Quarles or Fran Quarles
Quarles Law Firm, LLC
300 Office Park Drive
Suite 100
Mountain Brook, AL
(205) 874-7000
rquarles@quarleslawfirm.com
fquarles@quarleslawfirm.com
Quarles Law Firm, LLC (c) 2010
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