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Alert 2006-6 | February 9, 2006
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Chief Executive Officers of All National Banks; All State Banking Authorities; Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; Director, Office of Thrift Supervision; Conference of State Bank Supervisors; Deputy Comptrollers (districts); Assistant Deputy Comptrollers; District Counsel; and All Examining Personnel
The above-named bank has reported that counterfeit cashier’s checks, issued in the bank’s name and using a correct routing number of 111304064, are being presented for payment in what appears to be a scam initiated by a group on the internet, www.abantehome.org, which poses as a nonprofit charitable organization.
The counterfeit checks may be identified by the following: a standard blue check stock with small flower-like images in the background. The words “CASHIER’S CHECK” appear along the left border of the instrument, and the bank’s name “Farmers National Bank Seymour, Texas” appears in the center of the check with a fictitious bank logo of the United States to the left. The words “TO THE ORDER OF” appear in the lower-left corner of the check, and an “Authorized Signature” line appears in the lower-right corner. The checks appear to be prepared using a digital check writer. All of the counterfeit items presented appear as check number 87171, are dated January 25, 2006, in the amount of $4,500.00 and show the remitter as Chris Barnes.
Authentic cashier’s checks issued by the bank are pink in color, contain a designed border and are prepared with a manual check writer. The bank’s name and address “Farmers National Bank, P.O. Box 872, Seymour, Texas 76380” appear in the center of the check to the right of the bank’s logo. The words “PAY TO THE ORDER OF” appear in the center of the instrument, and the words “CASHIER’S CHECK” appear in the bottom-left portion of the check below the “PURCHASER” line. A signature line entitled “PRESIDENT CASHIER” appears in the lower-right portion of the check.
You can verify the authenticity of Farmers National Bank’s cashier’s checks by contacting Dana Winn, vice president, 100 N. Washington, Seymour, Texas 76380, by telephone at (940) 889-3161, by fax at (940) 889-1828 or via email at [dwinn@obtinc.com].
Additional information concerning this matter that you believe should be brought to the attention of the OCC may be forwarded to:
Email: occalertresponses@occ.treas.gov Mail: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Enforcement & Compliance Division, MS 8-10 250 E Street, SW, Washington, DC 20219 Fax: (202) 874-5301 Internet: https://www.occ.gov
For additional information regarding other types of financial fraud, please visit the OCC's anti-fraud resource page.
/signed/
Brian C. McCormally Director for Enforcement & Compliance
