The Citizens Bank of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Mississippi, has contacted the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to report that counterfeit money orders bearing the bank's name are in circulation.

The counterfeit items display the routing number 065302154, which is assigned to The Citizens Bank of Philadelphia, and are very similar to authentic money orders. However, the counterfeit items have the phrase "NOT VALID OVER $10,000.00" with "10" displayed to the right of the statement in the top-center portion of the item. Security wording is embedded within the top border.

Authentic money orders display "NOT VALID OVER $1,000.00" with "01" displayed to the right of the statement. Authentic money orders do not contain security wording in the top border.

A copy of a counterfeit item and a copy of an authentic money order (VOID) are attached for your review.

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

Ms. Erdis Chaney
Vice President and Cashier
The Citizens Bank of Philadelphia
521 Main Street
Philadelphia, Mississippi 39350
Telephone: (601) 656-4692, Extension 230
Fax: (601) 656-4183
E-mail: echaney@tcbphila.com

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)