Counterfeit personal money orders bearing the name Country Bank are reportedly in circulation

Country Bank for Savings, Ware, Massachusetts, has contacted the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to report that counterfeit personal money orders bearing the institution's name are in circulation.

The counterfeit items display the routing number 011007092, which is assigned to a MoneyGram Payment Systems, Inc. account, payable at The Bank of New York Mellon, Everett, Massachusetts. Country Bank for Savings issues its money orders through MoneyGram Payment System, Inc.

The items are similar to authentic personal money orders. The counterfeit items have security feature statements embedded in a dark green top border and along the bottom border between two padlocks. A toll-free telephone number, which is not associated with the bank, appears below the bank's name in the top-left corner.

Authentic personal money orders include the statement "By signing you agree to the service charge and other terms on the reverse side" below the right side of the written dollar amount line. The back of the personal money order lists the following: "LIMITED RECOURSE," "PURCHASER'S AGREEMENT," "SERVICE CHARGE" AND "RESTRICTIONS ON USE."

Copies of a counterfeit item and an authentic (void) money order are attached for your review. Be aware that the appearance of counterfeit items can be modified and that additional variations may be presented.

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

Celeste M. Talarico
Assistant Vice President
Country Bank for Savings
75 Main Street
Ware, Massachusetts 01082
Telephone: (413) 967-6221
Fax: (413) 277-2521
E-mail: ctalarico@countrybank.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-3054, Washington, DC 20429, or transmitted electronically to alert@fdic.gov. Questions 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/2009/index.html. To learn how to automatically receive FDIC Special Alerts through e-mail, please visit www.fdic.gov/about/subscriptions/index.html.

Sandra ThompsonDirector
Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection