U.S. Treasury checks will be mailed to millions of Americans starting late April due to the CARES Act, and the Treasury and U.S. Secret Service have issued information to help financial institutions and consumers identify counterfeit U.S. Treasury checks. Information on this bulletin can be found on CUNA’s CompBlog.

Anyone who believes they may have a counterfeit economic impact payment check is urged to contact local law enforcement, a Secret Service field office, or the Treasury.

Checks issued from the U.S. Treasury contain several security features, including:

• Treasury seal - There is a new Treasury seal to the right of the Statue of Liberty. The new seal should read “Bureau of the Fiscal Service” and it replaces the old seal that read “Financial Management Service;”
• Bleeding ink - When moisture is applied to the black ink on the seal next to the Statue of Liberty, the ink will “run” and turn red;
• Watermark - All Treasury checks are printed on watermarked paper. The watermark reads “U.S. TREASURY” and can be seen from both front and back when held up to a light source.
• Ultraviolet overprinting - An invisible to the naked eye “protective ultraviolet overprinting” (UV) pattern is on the paper check. It consists of lines of “FMS” bracketed on the left by the FMS seal and on the right by the U.S. Seal (eaglet. As of 2013, a new ultraviolet pattern was introduced into the check that says ‘FISCALSERVICE.’ Either one of these UV patterns maybe be seen.
• Microprinting - The back of the check is microprinted with the words “USAUSAUSA”.
• Economic Impact Payment - Printed on the lower right side of the Statue of Liberty will be the following information “Economic Impact Payment President Donald J. Trump”.