What are Wayne County Area Codes?
There are four area codes serving Wayne County. These are area codes 419, 567, 234, and 330. Area codes are numeric designations for numbering plan areas (NPAs). When AT&T created the North American Numbering Plan in 1947, it divided the country into 86 area codes according to population density. While some area codes cover entire states, some only covered one or a few cities and counties. The introduction of area codes and NPAs eased long-distance calling in the United States and made call switching more efficient across North American telephone networks. Every phone number registered in the US has an area code denoting where it was registered. In a typical 10-digit US phone number, the area code is the first three digits.
Area Code 419
This is one of the original four area codes assigned to the State of Ohio at the creation of the NANP in 1947. It is the only one in the group to retain its original boundaries. Area code 419 serves the northwest part of Ohio and covers a small portion of Wayne County. Communities served by area code 419 in the county include West Salem.
Area Code 567
Area code 567 is an overlay area code for the 419 NPA. It came into service on January 1, 2002 and serves the same communities as area code 419.
Area Code 330
Put into service on March 9, 1996, area code 330 covers the northwestern part of Ohio including Wayne County. Communities in that county assigned to this area code include Orrville, Wooster, Rittman, and Apple Creek.
Area Code 234
This is an overlay code for the 330 NPA. It was introduced on October 30, 2000 and serves the same communities as area code 330.
What are the Best Cell Phone Plans in Wayne County?
Most of the residents of Ohio have made the jump to wireless phones and abandoned their landline phones. This is one of the conclusions of a 2018 wireless substitution survey conducted by theCDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. The results of that survey indicated that 58.5% of the adult residents of the state are wireless-only phone users. In contrast, only 4.3% of them still used only landline phones for their telecommunication needs. Wireless phone services enjoy a wider adoption among minors in Ohio. About 71.8% of residents under the age of 18 indicated they only used wireless phones for telecommunication while 2% of them were landline-only phone users.
Wayne County residents can sign up for phone plans offered by major carriers and regional ones. In Ohio, AT&T has the widest network coverage with its signals reaching 99.9% of the state. Verizon and T-Mobile follow closely with 96.7% and 96.4% coverage respectively. The network coverages of regional carriers vary and usually depend on the national carrier they rely on for network services. Most regional carriers are also mobile virtual network operators or MVNOs. They buy network services in bulk orders from major carriers and resell them to phone users in the areas where they operate. Typically, MVNOs offer cheaper, but limited, cell phone plans.
Businesses and homes in Wayne County can also sign up for VoIP phone plans. VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a network communication technology that enables the transmission of voice signals over the internet as data packets. Therefore, VoIP phone services require broadband internet access. Residents with existing broadband internet services can save on their phone bills by signing up for VoIP phone plans. Compared to cell and landline phone services, VoIP phone services are usually more affordable for long-distance calls and teleconferencing sessions.
What are Wayne County Phone Scams?
These are telephone frauds perpetrated by dishonest individuals and groups targeting the residents of Wayne County. Most scams involve fraudsters communicating with their targets by phone. In addition to regular phone calls and text messages, scammers also use the following phone tools and services: spam calls, robocalls, caller ID spoofing, and phishing. They use these to find new targets for their fraudulent schemes and to gain the trust of these unsuspecting individuals as they aim to defraud them or steal confidential information.
Wayne County residents can avoid and fight phone scams by learning to use certain phone tools and services. Call blocking can help lower the odds of getting contacted by fraudsters. Reverse phone number lookup is useful for identifying unknown callers and determining whether they are scammers or not. Learning about prevalent phone scams in their communities can also help residents avoid telephone frauds. The Ohio Attorney General’s Office publishes helpful tips for avoiding phone scams and identifies the most commonly reported ones in the state. Some of the most common phone scams in Ohio are credit repair scams, fake check scams, computer repair scams, and grandparent scams.
What are Wayne County Credit Repair Scams?
These scams involve fraudsters falsely promising to be able to help erase their victims’ bad credits, lower their credit card interest rates, and consolidate their debts. After selling these bogus claims to their victims, these scammers demand hundreds or thousands of dollars for their services. However, they fail to deliver on their promises and often suggest illegal “solutions” such as buying new Social Security numbers and changing identities.
To avoid falling for credit repair scams, targeted residents should know that bad credit cannot be quickly repaired. It takes time, financial discipline, and paying off debts to repair a bad credit. If contacted by a stranger claiming to be capable of repairing bad credit, ask for documents backing their claims and identity. Use a free phone number lookup service to identify the caller. This search may show that the number used has been flagged for previous scam attempts.
What are Wayne County Fake Check Scams?
In a fake check scam, the fraudster sends the victim a check, asks them to deposit it into their bank account, and then wire back a portion of the money. In some cases, the scammer pays the victim with a check bearing an amount in the excess of what was previously agreed. They then ask the victim to deposit the check and wire back the excess amount. The victim only learns they have been duped when their bank calls to inform them that the submitted check is fake.
Wayne County residents should be wary when they get checks from strangers and online contacts. If the sender asks that you send back part of the amount on the check, hold off wiring them the money until their check clears. You should also investigate the sender by submitting their number for a suspicious phone number lookup. This may reveal that the number has been linked with previous scams or show that the caller is not who they claimed they are.
What are Wayne County Computer Repair Scams?
These are impostor scams in which fraudsters pretend to be representatives of reputable tech companies like Apple and Microsoft. They scare their victims by claiming their computers are infected by viruses or susceptible to hacks. These scammers often request remote access to their victims’ machines and may then bill them for bogus repairs and computer security software they do not need.
In some cases, computer repair scammers cause further harm beyond simply defrauding their victims. After gaining remote access to their victims’ computers, they may install malware such as spyware, adware, and ransomware. These can be used to keep tabs on victims, steal confidential information from their computers, turn these computers into bots, or lock out victims from their computers until they pay demanded ransoms.
Wayne County residents should refuse to provide remote access to their computers to strange callers. Tech companies do not offer unsolicited tech support and do not scan their customers’ computers without their permission. If contacted by a stranger claiming to work for a tech company, ask that they provide identifying information and verify their identity by calling the company they claim to work for and by using a phone number lookup to investigate them.
What are Wayne County Grandparent Scams?
These impostor scams involve fraudsters impersonating loved ones while requesting urgent financial help from their families. Scammers often target elderly residents with this fraudulent scheme and claim to be their grandkids. They ask for secrecy and often claim to need money to pay urgent hospital bills, get out of foreign locations, and pay for bail to get out of jail. Wayne County residents contacted in this way must refuse to keep the callers’ requests a secret from other loved ones. Call the loved one in distress directly to confirm that they were indeed the one who called. Call other family members to confirm what you heard from the caller. Confirm the caller’s location and identity with a reverse phone search.
What are Robocalls and Spam Calls?
These are unwanted and unsolicited calls sent out to large numbers of phone users. While robocalls are automated phone calls, spam calls are usually placed by representatives of dubious telemarketers. Robocalls delivered pre-recorded messages to their target audiences. When first introduced, robocalls were mostly used to deliver sales pitches, political messages, and public service announcements. However, the ease of use, cost-effectiveness, and long reach of robocalls made them appealing to scammers.
As the number of illegal robocalls and spam calls received by American phone users increase every year, there are efforts to find lasting solutions to the scourge of these unwanted calls. Wayne County residents can reduce the number of robocalls and spam calls they receive by following these steps:
- Hang up as soon as you realize a call is a spam call or robocall
- Do not follow prompts provided during spam calls and robocalls on how to stop receiving these calls. Following the instructions provided only leads to more unwanted calls
- Let calls from unknown numbers go to voicemail where you can review the messages left to decide which callers are genuine
- Set up your phone to block calls from unknown numbers or blacklisted ones. Do so using the call filtering feature of your smartphone or by signing up for your carrier’s call blocking service. There are also reputable call blocking apps available from your phone’s official app stores
- Identify unknown callers by running their numbers through a good reverse phone lookup service. This can help determine whether these callers are scammers, spammers, stalkers, or genuine contacts
- Stop receiving robocalls from telemarketers by adding your number to the National Do Not Call Registry. After 31 days of joining this list, you can regard telemarketing calls received as illegal and report such robocalls and spam calls to the FCC
How to Spot and Report Wayne County Phone Scams
Spotting telephone frauds requires knowing what signs to look out for. As long as scammers intend to defraud their victims and use deception to steal confidential information, they would resort to certain tactics that give them away. Residents of Wayne County should look out for the following red flags when communicating with strangers:
- Threats - scammers are quick to resort to threats to force their victims to comply with their demands. Fraudsters often use threats when impersonating authority figures like law enforcement officers, court officials, government employees, IRS employees, and bill/debt collectors. They often threat to arrest, jail, prosecute, and deport their victims or threat to revoke their driver’s, business, or professional licenses
- Odd requests for money - while posing as authority figures, scammers request payments sent directly to them. They may request for these in cash or in form of wire transfer, mobile app transfer, gift cards, prepaid debit cards, and cryptocurrencies
- High-pressure sales tactics - fraudsters pushing consumer scams as well as bogus business and investment offers do not want their victims to closely consider their unbelievable offers. They pressure them to sign up and pay immediately by inspiring a fear of missing out and offering deep discounts that are hard to pass up
- Reluctance to establish a paper trail - when asked, fraudsters fail to provide written documentation supporting their claims and establishing their identities. Rather, they offer up more promises and paid testimonials as proof of their reliability
If any of these signs tips you off about an unknown caller, take the next step by digging deeper into their identity with a reverse phone number lookup. If this search confirms your suspicions or casts further doubt on the trustworthiness of the caller, report them immediately to the right authorities. Reporting phone scams help law enforcement investigate and convict fraudsters. These reports also help others learn about how scammers operate. Residents of Wayne County can report incidents of phone scams to the following agencies:
- The Consumer Protection Section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office - this is the state’s consumer protection agency responsible for protecting Ohioans against consumer scams and other unfair business practices. Report a phone scam involving a consumer transaction to this agency by completing and submitting a Consumer Complaint Form online
- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) - as the federal consumer protection agency, the FTC is tasked with protecting Americans from unfair and fraudulent business practices. It investigates reports of scams involving consumer transactions. Residents of Wayne County can contact the FTC to file fraud complaints online or by calling (877) 382-4357
- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - this is the federal agency responsible for regulating the communication sector including the telecommunication industry. Part of the FCC’s duty is maintaining and enforcing the National Do Not Call Registry. Therefore, Wayne County residents can report illegal robocalls, spam calls, phishing, and caller ID spoofing to the FCC. Scams employing these tools can also be reported to the FCC’s Consumer Complaint Center