What are Davis County Area Codes?
Area codes refer to the first set of three digits that appear before every North American telephone number. In compliance with the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), at least one area code is allocated to each Numbering Plan Area (NPA). An area codes make it possible to determine the place a call originated from. Individuals can use reverse phone lookup services to perform area code lookups for unknown area codes. The Utah Public Service Commission regulates area codes in the state.
Area Code 801
Area code 801 was one of the initial 86 area codes developed by AT&T and the Bell System in 1947 and it served the entire state of Utah. Currently, it only serves Salt Lake City, West Valley City, Provo, West Jordan, and Orem.
Area Code 385
Area code 385 is an overlay code to area code 801. It became active on March 29, 2009. Area code 385 serves the same area as area code 801.
What Are the Best Cell Phone Plans in Davis County?
Among the four major phone carriers available in Davis County, Verizon appears to have the best coverage with 84%, compared to the coverage provided by other network providers. AT&T ranks next to Verizon with 78% and Sprint follows after with 74% coverage. Finally, of the four phone carriers, T-Mobile has the least coverage with 62%. Note that network coverage may be affected by harsh weather conditions. Likewise, rural areas may also experience poor network coverage.
The National Center of Health Statistics survey for 2018 reveals that an estimate of 69% of the Utah adult population used only wireless telephones, while just 2.6% of the adults used only landlines. On the other hand, 71.1% of minors under the age of 18 in Utah preferred wireless-only services in contrast to the 1.1% that only used landlines. The survey shows that both the adults and minors in Utah prefer to use cell phones compared to landlines.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is gradually taking over from traditional telephony services. Businesses and residential users now prefer to use VoIP services due to the excellent quality of services. VoIP enables the transmission of voice and multimedia data over stable broadband internet connections. Also, VoIP is considered less expensive, compared to other traditional telephony services. VoIP enables long-distance calls and video calls at very affordable rates It is also more versatile than traditional telephony services.
What Are Davis County Phone Scams?
Davis County phone scams are dubious ploys perpetrated by fraudsters. These scams aim to swindle county residents and get them to disclose their personal and financial information, which will be used for identity theft or to extort victims. Phone scammers use telephony services to facilitate their schemes by spoofing the Caller IDs of persons they intend to impersonate and using robocalls to reach several persons in a short time. Generally, free reverse phone number lookup services help reveal the identities of scammers and block them. Hence, if you receive a suspicious call from an unfamiliar phone number, use a reverse phone lookup service to find out who called you. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also provides information on common phone scams and how to identify them.
Scams commonly perpetrated in Davis County include:
What are Davis County Sheriff Impersonation Scams?
Here, scammers impersonate officers with the Davis County Sheriff Department or your City Police Department and call residents, requesting payment for various reasons. For instance, the caller may inform you that a family member or close contact has been in an accident. The scammer will then demand that you make a payment or give them your financial information (credit card and gift card information) over the phone. In other cases, the scammer may claim that the call recipient owes the department certain fees and then demand that they put money on a prepaid Visa card to clear their debt. Typically, these scammers first spoof the Caller IDs of officers of the law enforcement agencies in the county before placing the calls.
What are COVID-19 Scams?
Davis County COVID-19 scams involve scammers impersonating employees of legitimate health institutions to steal unsuspecting residents' personal information. These scammers contact residents for contact tracing, claiming they have been exposed to the virus. During the calls, the scammers request that the call recipients give them their personal information such as their social security numbers. In other cases of these scams, the scammers may also tell their victims to pay to receive vaccines, test kits, treatment, etc. Alternatively, they may inform their targets that one of their close contacts needs their support for COVID-19 treatment.
Be wary of such scams, as legitimate health institutions never request individuals’ personal or financial information during contact tracing or other health-related calls. If you receive such a call, immediately hang up and do not give out your personal information. Also do not make payment for any vaccines or test kits without verifying the source. You can unveil a scammer posing as a health worker by conducting a suspicious phone number lookup.
What are Investment Scams?
In investment scams, scammers contact residents to tell them about seemingly lucrative offers such as mortgage, real estate, and bitcoin investments. The aim is to make the residents invest their money in the so-called lucrative investments and after that, they disappear with the money. Most of these investment and business offers do not exist and even when they do, the risk is always high with low returns. Some scammers sometimes impersonate legitimate financial institutions and investment companies and may even have the resources to back up their claims.
However, it is important to be cautious when considering any investment or business offer. Take your time to research properly on the offer to find out whether it truly exists. Also, do a background check on the company backing up the offer and the caller that informed you about the investment. A reverse phone number lookup service can be used to verify whether the call was actually made from a legitimate business.
What are Charity Scams?
Scammers often prey on the good intentions of county residents by soliciting donations for fake charitable organizations. These scams are most common after disasters occur in the county but they can certainly occur at any time. Note that some of these scammers may claim to be soliciting donations on behalf of legitimate charitable organizations. If you get such a call, conduct a phone number lookup free to find out who called. In addition, it is safer to directly make donations to legitimate charitable organizations to avoid being swindled by scammers masquerading as representatives of charitable organizations.
What are Robocalls and Spam Calls?
Robocalls are automated calls targeted at several persons at the same time. These calls deliver pre-recorded audio messages and are mostly informational. However, some contain instructions for recipients to press certain numbers or buttons to be transferred to live-representatives or to stop receiving such calls. Examples of authorized robocalls include:
- Robocalls that are solely informational
- Robocalls for debt collection
- Robocalls from legitimate charities
- Political calls
- Calls from some health workers.
However, inasmuch as there are legitimate robocalls, scammers also use robocalls to execute fraudulent activities and prey on unsuspecting residents by stealing their personal and financial information and defrauding them. Illegitimate robocalls can be classified as spam calls. Spam calls are defined as unwanted calls sent for advertisement purposes and other purposes that are not directly relevant to the recipients.
Below are some precautions to take to avoid falling victim to illegal robocalls:
- End the call immediately you discern that you have picked a robocall. In addition, do not follow any instructions given during calls even if you are told to press numbers to stop receiving such calls. Illegal robocallers use this as bait to identify active numbers and target them with more unsolicited calls.
- Download mobile apps that provide phone number lookup services that to spot these calls and block them.
- Include your telephone number on the National Do Not Call Registry to curtail robocalls and other unsolicited calls.
- Electronically log a complaint pertaining to an illegal robocall through the FTC’s online complaint assistant or call 1-888-382-1222.
How to Spot and Report Davis County Phone Scams?
Davis County phone scams target unsuspecting county residents, both old and young. It is important to stay vigilant and be cautious to avoid falling victim to phone scams. Also, note that scammers continually come up with innovative methods of defrauding their targets by using advanced telephony services to execute their schemes. Here are major red flags that help identify scams:
- A call from an unknown phone number - Use a reverse phone lookup service to conduct a suspicious phone number lookup to unveil the identity of the caller. This service can also be used to block the caller’s phone number. Another option is to contact your phone network service provider for call blocking options.
- A caller requesting your personal or financial details - End the call immediately and do not disclose such information. In addition, you may identify the caller by performing a reverse phone look up.
- A caller impersonating a legitimate entity and demanding payment - End the call immediately and report it to a law enforcement agency in the county. Genuine businesses and government agencies never demand payment over the phone. Be wary of callers requesting payment via gift cards, wire transfers, and reloadable debit cards. These payment methods are difficult to trace and getting a refund may be impossible.
- A caller telling you to not disclose the details of a call or a dubious deal - End the call and tell trusted family members or friends about it. You may also do a free phone number lookup by name to get background information on the caller.
- A caller requesting payment before certain “prizes” are won - This is a potential scam. End the call immediately and do not make any form of payment or disclose your financial details.
Davis County residents can report phone scams to these government agencies:
Davis County Sheriff’s Department - Report scams to the department by calling (801) 451-4100 or sending an email to sheriff@daviscountyutah.gov.
Davis County Attorney - Report a crime by contacting the appropriate police agency in your city
Utah Division of Consumer Protection Division - Report by contacting the Division at (801) 530-6601 or electronically File a Complaint.
Federal Trade Commission - Provides guidelines on how to spot common phone scams and avoid unsolicited calls, robocalls, and phone scams. Victims of scams can report the scam through the FTC’s online consumer complaint assistant. Residents can also register on the National Do Not Call Registry to restrict unsolicited calls.
Federal Communications Commission - Provides guidelines on how to identify Caller ID spoofing and enable call blocking on their cell phones. Scam victims can report illegal caller ID spoofing and other phone scams online by filling out the complaint form.