A Canadian check scam recently targeted one Rapid City woman, who fears other senior citizens in the area may be targeted, as well.

After Lucille Dye received the third suspicious cashier's check last Monday for nearly $5,000, drawn on KeyBank of Seattle, Wash., she decided to contact the media and warn the community.

"I resent them using my name. I don't like being targeted," she said.

The 72-year-old woman received three letters and three checks over the course of four weeks. The checks were made out to Dye for substantial amounts of money: two were for $4,920, and one for $4,550.

According to the cover letters, the writers told Dye she had won $250,000 that would be awarded to her in full once she paid the Canadian taxes for the prize. She needed only to pay the taxes of $3,450, $3830 or $3,980 - the prize total was constant, but tax amounts varied - through the services of Western Union or MoneyGram, found at most Kmart stores.

The senior sleuth had doubts and took the checks, received April 15, April 22 and May 4, to her bank. There, officials immediately recognized the checks as counterfeit, she said.

Dye then reported the fraud to the state Attorney General in Pierre. Because the money scheme originated in Canada, state officials said they were unable to help her. However, they did give her information if she decided to contact Canadian authorities.

She did.

"According to the Canadian Fraud Line, they have started a file for me. I don't know how many people are receiving these letters, but they are targeting old people," Dye said.

She also took the cover letter to the local Kmart, where management told Dye, as did her bank, that she wasn't the first to bring a counterfeit check to the Rapid City store.

"The letters were interesting. They aren't worded exactly the same. The serial numbers of my winning tickets are different. Two say this is the final notice of unclaimed winnings," Dye said.

The letters say Dye's prize was organized through a contest by Kmart, Kohl's and other major department stores found in Rapid City.

"It makes it appear that I must have entered some kind of contest, and this was a drawing. They figure when you're old, you won't remember anything," she said.

If she had been desperate for cash to pay a medical bill, a hospital bill or fix a vehicle, it might have been easy to pay the "taxes" for the $250,000.

Luckily, she was skeptical, not desperate.

"I would have been out of everything. I would have lost everything," she said. "The only thing you can do in this situation is warn people."

Contact Jomay Steen at jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com or 394-8418.