Counterfeit Official Bank Checks

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has learned that counterfeit official bank checks drawn on First Hawaiian Bank, Honolulu, Hawaii, are in circulation. The counterfeit items reflect the Liliha Branch as the issuing office and are not MICR encoded. They are payable through Bank of the West, Walnut Creek, California, routing number 121100782. Attached for your information are copies of three of the counterfeit instruments. Several items processed to date have come from various areas of the United States, and one has come from Europe.

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

Mr. David R. Sage
Assistant Vice President/Interim Security Officer
First Hawaiian Bank
2339 Kamehameha Highway
Honolulu, Hawaii
Telephone: (808) 844-3831
Fax: (808) 844-3839

Information about these instruments also may be forwarded to the FDIC's Special Activities Section, 550 17th Street, NW, Room F-6012, Washington, DC 20429, or transmitted electronically to alert@fdic.gov.

For your reference, all FDIC Financial Institution Letters published since January of 1995 may be found on the FDIC's Web site at www.fdic.gov under "Newsroom, Events & FOIA." To learn how to automatically receive FDIC Financial Institution Letters through e-mail, please visit http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/announcements/index.html.

Michael J. ZamorskiDirector