The Bank of Romney, Romney, West Virginia, has contacted the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to report that counterfeit official checks bearing the institution's name are in circulation.

The counterfeit items display the routing number 052201925, which is assigned to The Bank of Romney, but are dissimilar to authentic checks. The counterfeit items display the words "OFFICIAL CHECK" in large letters in the middle of the item. In addition, the bank's name is displayed in the upper-left corner and repeated in the lower-left corner along with the bank's city, state and zip code.

Authentic checks are referred to as "PERSONAL MONEY ORDERS" and display the bank's logo, name and location in the lower-left corner. Lines for the remitter's signature, address, city and state are displayed in the lower-right corner.

Copies of a counterfeit item and an authentic personal money order (VOID) are attached for your review. Be aware that the appearance of counterfeit items can be modified and that additional variations may be presented.

Any information you have concerning this matter should be brought to the attention of:

Jo Ann Hott
BSA Officer
or
Jannell Hill
Chief Operations Officer
The Bank of Romney
95 E. Main Street
Romney, West Virginia 26757
Telephone: (304) 822-3541
Fax: (304) 822-3547
E-mail: hottjo@bankofromney.net or hillj@bankofromney.net

Information about counterfeit items, cyber-fraud incidents, and other fraudulent activity may be forwarded to the FDIC's Cyber-Fraud and Financial Crimes Section, 550 17th Street, N.W., Room F-4004, Washington, D.C. 20429, or transmitted electronically to alert@fdic.gov. Information related to federal deposit insurance or consumer issues should be submitted to the FDIC using an online form that can be accessed at http://www2.fdic.gov/starsmail/index.asp.

For your reference, FDIC Special Alerts may be accessed from the FDIC's website at www.fdic.gov/news/news/SpecialAlert/2006/index.html. To learn how to automatically receive FDIC Special Alerts through e-mail, please visit www.fdic.gov/about/subscriptions/index.html.

Attachment (not available electronically)

NOTE: As a security precaution, the FDIC does not post to its Web site electronic images of fraudulent items or authentic checks that have been counterfeited. This is to avoid attempts by others to use these instruments to facilitate additional fraud. Financial institutions can view images of the fraudulent items and authentic checks (marked as VOID) using the FDIC's free, secure Web site, FDICconnect. (See more information about FDICconnect at http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/financial/2006/fil06032.html.) Printed copies of each Special Alert and its attachment(s) may also be obtained from the FDIC's Public Information Center (telephone: 1-877-275-3342 or 703-562-2200; fax: 703-562-2296; or e-mail: publicinfo@fdic.gov).

Distribution: FDIC-Supervised Banks (Commercial and Savings)