Counterfeit official checks bearing the name The Guernsey Bank, Worthington, Ohio, are reportedly in circulation

The Guernsey Bank, Worthington, Ohio, has contacted the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to report that counterfeit official checks bearing the institution's name are in circulation.

The counterfeit items display the routing number 044072298, which is assigned to The Guernsey Bank. The items are dissimilar to authentic official checks and when copied have a "VOID" background. A security feature statement is embedded in a darkened top border and along the bottom border between two padlocks. The bank's logo when copied is a blank box.

Authentic official checks have ornate borders. A security feature statement is below the combined "THE PAY TO THE ORDER" and numerical amount line, followed by a padlock and statement. The bank's logo is a boxed Guernsey cow face in the top-left corner.

Copies of a counterfeit item and an authentic check (VOID) 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:

Betsy Bass
Retail Operations Manager
The Guernsey Bank
6661 Huntley Road
Columbus, Ohio 43229
Telephone: (614) 985-0266
Fax: (614) 985-0355
E-mail: bbass@guernseybank.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, 3501 North Fairfax Drive, CH-11034, Arlington, Virginia 22226, 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 Web site at www.fdic.gov/news/news/SpecialAlert/2011/index.html. To learn how to automatically receive FDIC Special Alerts through e-mail, please visit www.fdic.gov/about/subscriptions/index.html.

Sandra L. ThompsonDirector
Division of Risk Management Supervision