Counterfeit expense checks drawn on Gulf Coast Bank, Abbeville, Louisiana, are reportedly in circulation

Gulf Coast Bank, Abbeville, Louisiana, has contacted the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to report that counterfeit expense checks bearing the institution's name are in circulation.

The counterfeit items display the routing number 065201860, which is assigned to Gulf Coast Bank, but are dissimilar to authentic checks in style. The counterfeit items do not display a logo, and the bank's name is printed in the top-left portion – but not in the corner – of the counterfeit items. In addition, security wording is embedded in the top border of the counterfeit checks.

Authentic expense checks display the bank's logo, which are the letters "G," "C" and B" intertwined, inside a shaded box in the top-left corner of the check. The bank's name is printed to the right of the logo.

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

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

Chris Juneau
Assistant Vice President
Gulf Coast Bank
P. O. Box 490
Abbeville, Louisiana 70510
Telephone: (337) 893-7733
Fax: (337) 893-7319
chrisj@gcbank.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 Web site 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.

Christopher J. SpothActing Director
Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection