The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has learned that counterfeit cashier's checks drawn on Bank of the West, San Francisco, California, are currently in circulation. The counterfeit items include the bank's routing number of 121100782. The counterfeit items have a single background color; however, the authentic checks have a different background color in the area designated for the numeric amount. Attached are one copy of a counterfeit item and one copy of an authentic check (void). The authentic and counterfeit items contain the bank's logo, which does not appear on a copy of either item when they are reproduced by a facsimile machine.

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

Ms. Nori Fuller
AVP - Loss Investigator
Bank of the West
401 Lennon Lane
Walnut Creek, California 94598
Telephone: (925) 926-1439
FAX: (925) 937-1044

Information about these financial institutions or instruments may be forwarded to the FDIC's Special Activities Section, 550 17th Street, NW, Room F-4040, Washington, DC 20429, or transmitted electronically to alert@fdic.gov.

For your reference, FDIC Special Alerts may be accessed from the FDIC's Web site at www.fdic.gov/news/news/SpecialAlert/2003/index.html. To learn how to automatically receive FDIC Special Alerts, Financial Institution Letters and other announcements through e-mail, please visit www.fdic.gov/news/news/announcements/index.html.

Attachment (not available electronically)