By Rebecca Goldfine,Staff Writer

PARIS – The county’s sheriff’s office is warning residents in the area about a possible phone scam.

Linda Hooker, the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office administrative assistant, said she took a complaint from someone in the county who received eight phone calls from a telemarketer claiming the person was a winner of a $500 gift certificate.

The catch, though, was that the so-called winner had to pay $4.95 for administrative costs, and was then asked to send along the routing number of a checking account so the company could remove the money.

Hooker said Monday: “When you’ve won something, you don’t pay anything.” She did not know details about the certificate reported in the complaint.

After calling the number for the organization, Hooker said she spoke with a man who claimed to be doing work that had been outsourced to his company and who could not tell Hooker how he collected names and telephone numbers.

When Hooker told him she had been told one of his employees kept calling even after he was told to stop, the man said he had taken other complaints about the same worker.

A phone call to the same company later in the day reached a recorded message saying all circuits were busy and to try again later.

Hooker said that during the holidays, people should be extra vigilant about avoiding scams.

Anyone calling and asking for checking account information should be reported. Also, Hooker said she has heard of swindlers who send bad checks to supposedly cover official costs for a big prize.

“Then someone calls and says they’ve overpaid and can you send cash back,” she said.

By the time the check, usually from out of state, has cleared and it’s evident that it’s bad, the scammed person may have already wired money to the sender, Hooker said.

Hooker said, too, that in the holiday season, people are apt to donate to charities, and that people should be cautious about those donations also. The safest bet is to contribute to local organizations, she said.