YAKIMA -- "It sounds crazy, right, if they say it's too good to be true, it's too good to be true," Cheryl Bussert said.

She thought she hit it big.

"Apparently, I won a lump sum of payout of $45,000," Bussert explained.

She says it all started with a letter and a check.

The letter said she won a sweepstakes game she played online.

All she had to do to earn her winnings was cash a check they sent her and wire back the money to the company.

"I could have done it, I think 10 years ago, I might have done it," Cheryl said.

She claims the check looks legit, but decided to take it to a local check cashing store to be sure.

"He says, Oh is that one of those things that you're supposed to send money Western Union? I go yeah, he goes, I've seen about 100 of these, and I'm like, really," Bussert explained.

That wasn't all, afterwards, she went to a local bank for a second opinion.

She says she was never expecting to hear what they told her.

"We'll close your account and we'll start a fraud claim on ya," Bussert recalled.

She tells Action News, that's what would have happened if she tried to cash the check there.

Cheryl also says the banker told her 20 others, just like her, came in with the same question.

She says she's worried this scammer is hitting big on folks in Yakima.

"You're getting in a lot of trouble, you're having to pay it back and you might've already sent them the money, so you're getting double whammied," she said.

Since spotting the scam, Cheryl's been working with the bank who's name is on the check to try to figure out where the fake checks are coming from.