Special Alert: SLS00333

This Bulletin is to advise you, in accordance with Stewart Information Services Corporation's (“SISCO”) Anti-Fraud Plan, that the FDIC has issued the above-referenced Special Alert Notices. In order to view these and other Special Alert Notices issued by the FDIC, please refer to...

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) of Canada has published the attached "Warning Notice" (Issue No. 73) containing the name CanadaBank, which has been recently brought to OSFI's attention. Warning Notice Issue No. 73 states that the name listed is not an authorized, federally regulated financial institution (Canadian) and may be involved in advance fee scams (see also OSFI's Warning Notice No. 23, dated February 2002). This entity, or persons purported to represent the entity, is not insured by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC). Any proposed transactions involving this entity should be viewed with extreme caution.

The following information about CanadaBank is provided in Warning Notice No. 73:

CanadaBank
235 Roosevelt Cres.
North Vancouver, British Columbia
V7P 1M3
Telephone Number: 1-206-666-2370
Web address: www.canadabank.net, which appears to be hosted in Panama .

Each "Warning Notice," beginning with Issue No. 1 through OSFI's latest "Warning Notice," may be found at http://www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca/osfi/index_e.aspx?ArticleID=166.

To report any scam based in or mailed from Canada , please contact Phonebusters, which is a joint partnership between the Ontario Provincial Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Phonebusters is interested in receiving copies of scam letters, particularly those involving Canadian mailing addresses or telephone numbers. Records relating to the payment of advance fees should also be forwarded to Phonebusters. This information is used to assist in the strategic targeting of would-be fraudsters. Scam letters should be forwarded to the Phonebusters National Call Center (PNCC) as follows:

Information about counterfeit items, cyber-fraud incidents and other fraudulent activity may be forwarded to the FDIC's Cyber-Fraud and Financial Crimes Section, 550 17th Street, N.W., Room F-4004, Washington, D.C. 20429, or transmitted electronically to alert@fdic.gov.

Information 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 http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/SpecialAlert/2006/index.html. To learn how to automatically receive FDIC Special Alerts through e-mail, please visit www.fdic.gov/about/subscriptions/index.html.

Attachment: Can be found at http://www.osfi- bsif.gc.ca/app/DocRepository/1/eng/consumer/notices/Warning_Notice_73_e.pdf - PDF 48k (PDF Help)

Distribution: FDIC-Supervised Banks (Commercial and Savings)

The Grundy National Bank of Grundy Center (d/b/a Grundy National Bank), Grundy Center, Iowa, has contacted the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to report that counterfeit cashier's checks bearing the institution's name are in circulation. The counterfeit items are reportedly associated with a nationwide mystery-shopper scam. To date, correspondence accompanying the counterfeit items has included letterhead of either "Global Market Insite, Inc.," or "Mystery Shopper, USA ."

The counterfeit items display the routing number of 073905064, which is assigned to The Grundy National Bank. The counterfeit items are dissimilar to authentic checks and include the name "The Grundy National Bank," the GNB logo, the bank's location, and a telephone number, which is not associated with the bank, in the upper-left corner. Centered at the top are the words "CASHIER'S CHECK." In the center of the counterfeit items is a rectangle containing six arrows pointing right with the wording "MATCH THE AMOUNT IN WORDS WITH THE AMOUNT IN NUMBERS" directly above the arrows. Also, the words "DRAWER" and "REMITTER" are printed on the right side of the counterfeit items.

Authentic checks include the bank's GNB logo and "Grundy National Bank" in the top center. The word "REMITTER" is displayed in the upper-left corner and "CASHIER'S CHECK" is printed in the lower-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:

Rose Curren, Head Cashier
Grundy National Bank
P.O. Box 246
Grundy Center, Iowa 50638
Telephone: (319) 824-5431
Fax: (319) 824-3854
rosec@gnbbank.com

To report this scam or any other scam based in or mailed from Canada , please contact Phonebusters, which is a joint partnership between the Ontario Provincial Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Phonebusters is interested in receiving copies of scam letters, particularly those involving Canadian mailing addresses or telephone numbers. Records relating to the payment of advance fees should also be forwarded to Phonebusters. This information is used to assist in the strategic targeting of would-be fraudsters. Scam letters should be forwarded to the Phonebusters National Call Center (PNCC) as follows:

Information about counterfeit items, cyber-fraud incidents and other fraudulent activity may be forwarded to the FDIC's Cyber-Fraud and Financial Crimes Section, 550 17th Street, N.W., Room F-4004, Iowa, D.C. 20429, or transmitted electronically to alert@fdic.gov. Information 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/2006/index.html. To learn how to automatically receive FDIC Special Alerts through e-mail, please visit www.fdic.gov/about/subscriptions/index.html.

Attachment (not available electronically)

NOTE: As a security precaution, the FDIC does not post to its Web site electronic images of fraudulent items or authentic checks that have been counterfeited. This is to avoid attempts by others to use these instruments to facilitate additional fraud. Financial institutions can view images of the fraudulent items and authentic checks (marked as VOID) using the FDIC's free, secure Web site, FDICconnect. (See more information about FDICconnect at http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/financial/2006/fil06032.html.) Printed copies of each Special Alert and its attachment(s) may also be obtained from the FDIC's Public Information Center (telephone: 1-877-275-3342 or 703-562-2200; fax: 703-562-2296; or e-mail: publicinfo@fdic.gov).

Distribution: FDIC-Supervised Banks (Commercial and Savings)