Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has asked the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to alert all FDIC-supervised banks to the theft of equipment and supplies used to produce driver's licenses and identification cards.

The equipment and supplies were stolen from two offices of the South Carolina Department of Public Safety on March 12, 2002, and March 25, 2002. The equipment has been recovered and the suspect has been arrested. However, it is believed that a number of counterfeit South Carolina driver's licenses and identification cards were produced.

The following information should be used to ensure that any South Carolina driver's licenses or identification cards are valid. The documents should be laminated and contain one of the following security features:

• Diagonal, wavy gold lines with expirations no later than 2003. (These are the most easily replicated and were not used for such documents with expirations beyond 2003.)
• Holograms of both the South Carolina state seal and the outline of the state of South Carolina with "SC" in the middle.
• Holograms of both the South Carolina Department of Public Safety Seal and the outline of the state of South Carolina with "SC" in the middle.

Information about the stolen equipment and supplies also may be forwarded to the FDIC's Special Activities Section, 550 17th Street, NW, Room F-6012, Washington, DC 20429, or transmitted electronically to alert@fdic.gov.

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." To learn how to automatically receive FDIC Financial Institution Letters through e-mail, please visit http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/announcements/index.html.

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).