OTISFIELD – Trudy Woodring knew it was a scam the minute the woman on the other end of the line told her she was about to get free money.

It was after 7:30 p.m. Friday when the phone call came through, Woodring said, and the woman said there was $8,000 just waiting to be deposited in her bank account. All that was needed was a $249 check and the account details, she was told.

“I said, Wait a minute, I have some questions,'” Woodring said, recalling the conversation Monday. After speaking with two “supervisors” and getting no answers, Woodring told the supposed government officials she was calling the police.

This was the proper course of action, said Linda Hooker, administrative assistant for the Oxford County Sheriff’s Department.

The department keeps track of scams and even reports of excessive junk mail and violations of the “do not call list,” she said. The latter is a list of telephone numbers telemarketers are required by law to avoid.

“The best thing to do is, don’t answer these phone calls,” Hooker said. “Don’t get sucked into them.”

That can be difficult, Woodring acknowledged. Her husband refused the $8,000 phone scam twice before she got the call. And, she said, “They made it sound real good.”

With the holidays here, however, both Woodring and Hooker are urging residents to be wary of questionable phone calls and similar appeals for money.