Republic Bank, St. Petersburg, Florida, has reported to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) that counterfeit cashier's checks are in circulation. The counterfeit instruments are drawn upon the bank and display the bank's routing number of 063108868. Although the counterfeit items are similar to the bank's genuine checks, they have the following distinctive qualities:

• All of the check numbers are in the 900000 series.
• The following is printed in the Remitter Line:
  BR 044 GWE MARIAN H LUN UTD 04/07/99.
• The following is printed below the payee name: **ref243511296476**CD.

A copy of a counterfeit check is attached for your review. Any information you have concerning this matter should be brought to the attention of:

Tracy Sandwick
Liability Risk Management
Branch Banking and Trust
Mail Stop 100-99-15-50
2501 Wooten Boulevard
P.O. Box 819
Wilson, NC 27896
Phone: (252) 246-3799
Fax: (252)246-3746
Email: TLSandwick@BBandT.com

Information concerning these financial institutions or instruments may be forwarded to the FDIC's Special Activities Section, 550 17th Street, N.W., Room F-4040, Washington, D.C. 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.