Financial institutions have contacted the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to report that fraudulent checks bearing the name First Star Bank, Arlington, Texas, using routing numbers assigned to various other financial institutions are in circulation. There is no federal- or state-chartered financial institution with the name First Star Bank operating in Texas.

Fraudulent items display a logo, which consists of a darkened triangle overlaid with half of a sun burst shape. "First Star Bank, Arlington, Texas" appears to the right of the logo. The dollar amount is displayed in the center of the item in large block numbers. A notice to customers is printed in the top-left corner, and "TO THE ORDER OF" is displayed in the bottom-left corner. The words "OFFICIAL CHECK" are displayed vertically along the left edge.

A copy of a fraudulent item is attached for your review. Be aware that the appearance of fraudulent items can be modified and that additional variations may be presented.

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)