BEND, Ore. -- There's another scam making the rounds in Central Oregon, and it appears to target senior citizens.

Donna Garnier of Bend received a piece of mail this week from an anonymous sender. She was shocked to find out what was inside.

“First I looked at the check, and it said ‘State Farm, and I thought, ‘Whooo, what is this?’” she recalled Friday. “Then I looked at the amount, and it was $4,000 -- and I thought, ‘Huh?’”

The letter attached went on to say she had won $150,000 – but before she could receive her payout, she had to cash the check and send the money to a Canadian address, to pay for the “processing fee.”

Does this scam sound familiar?

Well luckily, it did to Garnier.

“I wasn’t getting excited,” she said. “I said, ‘Whoo, we need to do something about this.’”

It’s happening to more and more senior citizens, so Deschutes County District Attorney Mike Dugan wants to get the word out -- because these fraudulent checks look real.

“It’s happening to senior citizens because they are a little more forgetful, they are a little more vulnerable, and they’re more gullible,” Dugan said.

The check Garnier received in the mail looks totally legitimate. But if you try to photocopy it, the word “void” is clearly visible, all over the back.

That isn’t the only way to find out that a check is no good.

But the bottom line: Dugan said you should be skeptical any time you get a large sum of money in the mail that you weren’t expecting – and never send any money back.

If you have to send money on a promise to get more, it won’t happen.

Dugan says if you receive one of these checks in the mail, just rip it up and get rid of it. If you have any more questions about possible scams, contact the district attorney’s office.