The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has learned that fraudulent activity at a printing company has resulted in the duplication of a substantial number of cashier's checks drawn on Southern California Bank, Newport Beach, California. These are duplicates of checks with serial numbers matching those of legitimate checks printed for the bank. The serial numbers of the fraudulently obtained items are in the following ranges:

The bank has destroyed all duplicate numbered checks in its stock and has issued stop-payment orders on the duplicate checks in circulation. Items presented to date have come from Arizona and have been hand-written instead of protectographed or typed. If any of these items are presented at your bank, please contact the Southern California Bank to verify their validity.

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

Information concerning these instruments also may be forwarded to the FDIC's Special Activities Section, 550 17th Street, NW, Room F-6012, Washington, DC 20429. For your reference, all FDIC Financial Institution Letters published since January of 1995 may be found on the FDIC's Web site at www.fdic.gov under "News, Events & FOIA."

Distribution: FDIC-Supervised Banks (Commercial and Savings)

NOTE: Paper copies of FDIC financial institution letters may be obtained through the FDIC's Public Information Center, 801 17th Street, NW, Room 100, Washington, DC 20434 (800-276-6003 or (703) 562-2200).