ONONDAGA COUNTY -- The Onondaga County Sheriff department reports a new phone scam has surfaced the county. It works like this, someone calls and clams to be an officer with the New York Sheriff's office and tells you that you have a delinquent payment. The caller then say that failure to make payment will result in an arrest and then asks you to confirm your personal information such as date of birth and social security number. Finally the caller encourages you to make a payment by wiring money to an overseas address. Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh says to avoid this scam you should never provide personal information to a caller such as your date of birth or social security number. Also you should never provide credit card information or bank account information over the phone to a unknown person. Finally you should never send money to person you do not know or a unverified business.

For more information on protecting yourself from scams please visit

http://www.usa.gov/topics/consumer/scams-fraud.shtml

http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/fraud