West Plains bank targeted for counterfeit cashier's checks

West Plains Bank and Trust Co. is the second southwest Missouri bank in as many days to alert federal authorities about counterfeit cashier's checks.

The West Plains-based bank alerted the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. about counterfeit checks bearing the routing number of the bank. The counterfeit checks do not look like authentic cashier's checks, according to an FDIC news release, including misspelling the bank's name as West "Plaines" Bank and Trust.

According to the release, the bank issues two styles of authentic cashier's checks; one has ornate borders with a padlock icon and vertical security statement embedded on the right border. The second version has a heat-sensitive watermark on the right side.

The announcement from the West Plains bank comes on the heels of a similar announcement from the Metz Banking Co. in Nevada.