Desiree Stephenson opened her mail Thursday and thought she had hit a good-luck streak.

The letter said she had won a lottery, even though she says she never entered it.

The Lawrence woman, who is looking for work, later learned from her bank that a $4,885 check with the letter she received from what claimed to be a Canadian company was no good.

“At first, I thought this is too good to be true, and they say when it’s too good to be true, then it’s probably wrong,” she said.

She received the letter from Tresure Valley Financial, which supposedly is based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The letter informed Stephenson that she had won the North American Shoppers Lotto and needed to claim her share of a $315,810 prize with 20 other winners.

To claim her prize, Stephenson was instructed to use a $4,885 check that came with the letter to pay required taxes.

The letter contained several grammatical errors, including incomplete sentences and a misspelling of the word “Treasure” in the letterhead from “Tresure Valley Financial.”

Desiree Stephenson was sent a fake ,885 check from Treasure Valley Financial in Ontario, Canada. She contacted her bank and found out it was a scam. Stephenson is pictured on Friday at the Lawrence Journal-World, 645 New Hampshire.

Stephenson said someone from the company called Friday afternoon and asked her to send the money to pay for the taxes on her winnings through Western Union, which would allow them to release her winnings. Stephenson said she did not tell the company the bank had declared her check no good.

Joe Oberzan, branch manager at Capitol Federal Savings, 1025 Iowa, said his bank saw similar lottery-winning claims through the mail or via e-mail from foreign countries.

Typically, an individual will deposit the check and try to send money to the company. Meanwhile, the check will bounce, and the customer will still lose funds from the account.

Banks advise customers to contact the post office and police to keep a record of the possible scam. The post office notifies the U.S. postal inspector, who typically notifies law enforcement and mail services in the foreign country.

“I’m more than happy to find out about it, because it’s the sooner we shut these scam artists down,” Lawrence Postmaster Judy Raney said.

“Kansans just need to use common sense. There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” said Whitney Watson, a spokesman for Atty. Gen. Phill Kline.

Stephenson said she hopes her experience will educate others about such scams.

“I’m concerned about people who believe they really received a check and also the elderly, who get scammed easily,” Stephenson said.