Cortland County Sheriff's Office warns of phone scam

CORTLAND, N.Y. - The Cortland County Sheriff's Office is warning the public about a phone scam circulating in the area.

On Tuesday, officers took several reports of individuals who received phone calls from people claiming to be employees with Verizon.

The "employee" told the caller that their Windows program is corrupted and they must pay with a credit card in order to fix the issue. The individuals were then instructed to stay off their phone for two hours "while the problem gets fixed."

During that time, the scammers would make purchases with the victim's credit card information, authorities said.

The sheriff's office reminds residents to exercise caution before giving out personal information over the phone or email.

Customers seeking more information on the scams impacting Verizon customers can visit Verizon's security page at  http://www.verizon.com/pages/securityalerts/.