What are Wood County Area Codes?
The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) covers every geographical area in North America and groups them into Numbering Plan Areas (NPAs). Each NPA is assigned at least one area code. Area codes are three-digit codes that identify the destination or originating locations of specific calls. They precede ten-digit phone numbers; hence, residents can use them to determine the originating locations of the calls they receive. Performing an area code lookup with a reverse phone lookup tool is necessary to identify scam callers and determine where certain calls originate from.
Area Code 419
Area code 419 was created in October 1947 as one of the original area codes that serve the area. It covers the northwest quadrant of the State of Ohio. Area code 419 was the last among Ohio's initial four area codes to be overlaid or split. Some of the cities and villages it serves are Bowling Green, Lucky, Pemberville, Millbury, North Baltimore, Weston, Wayne, etc.
Area Code 567
Area code 567 was formed on January 1, 2002, as the overlay area code of 419. It covers the same areas with area code 419. Some areas it covers are Grand Rapids, Bloomdale, Cygnet, Risingsun, Walbridge, etc
What are the Best Cell Phone Plans in Wood County?
Wood County primarily has four active telephone carrier networks, including T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T. They all provide good network coverage in Wood County, except in rural areas and densely populated areas or when affected by bad weather. T-Mobile has the best coverage with 92%, followed by Verizon with 82% coverage and Sprint with 80% coverage. AT&T, with 76%, has the least network coverage in the county. The coverage may vary from city to city. For instance, Bowling Green’s phone network with the best coverage is Verizon with 100%.
The National Center of Health Statistical Survey released in 2018 highlights that adults and minors in Ohio mostly use only wireless telephones instead of landlines. The survey shows that approximately 58.5% of the Ohio adult population solely used wireless telephones, while approximately 4.3% of the Ohio adult population used only landlines. In comparison with the telephone status survey of minors, about 71.8% of the minors in Ohio solely used wireless telephones, while only 2% of Ohio minors used only landlines.
VoIP has massively grown in recognition in Wood County by residents and businesses in the county who now see it as a worthy alternative to traditional telephony services. VoIP is the acronym for Voice over Internet Protocol, and it defines a medium of transmitting voice and multimedia messages via an internet connection. Many companies provide VoIP services and make them available to Wood County residents in various subscription packages. Therefore, individuals and businesses can access the exceptional features VoIP offers at affordable costs. Some exceptional features of VoIP are call recording/monitoring, call screening, Caller ID spoofing, conference calling, automated attendant, call forwarding/voicemail, etc.
What are Wood County Phone Scams?
Wood County phone scams are criminal acts perpetrated by scammers to extort residents over the phone and steal confidential information from them. These scammers constantly devise deceptive acts and use them to take advantage of unsuspecting Wood County residents. These deceptive acts are facilitated by the use of technological innovations like Caller ID spoofing and robocalls. Scammers hide their phone numbers and duplicate the Caller IDs of legitimate organizations and individuals with Caller ID spoofing, thereby impersonating them and deceiving them. In most cases, the impersonated entities are government agencies like the IRS, Social Security Administration, law enforcement agencies, health institutions, financial institutions, legitimate businesses. While it may be pretty difficult to ]identify these scams, residents can use free reverse phone lookup services to conduct phone number lookups. Such services will help expose spoofed Caller IDs and answer the question, “who is this number registered to? or who called me?”
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) provides residents with information on illegal Caller ID spoofing and phone scams. They also help enlighten residents on how to enable call-blocking tools and features.
Popular scams committed in Wood County are:
What are Wood County Mon Power Scams?
In the Wood County Mon Power scam, a resident receives a call from a scammer posing as an employee of Mon Power. The scammer claims that the recipient owes Mon Power specific fees and threatens to cut off power due to late payments. Scammers here usually spoof the Caller IDs of the Mon Power company to appear legitimate. Be cautious and conduct suspicious phone number lookup when in doubt of who called you. You may also call the company’s verified phone number to check if there are any issues with your account.
What are Wood County COVID-19 Scams?
The Wood County Sheriff’s Office creates awareness on COVID-19 scams that have recently become prevalent in the county. Here, residents receive calls from persons who claim to be calling for contact tracing. These persons typically request personal information like credit card numbers and social security numbers. Residents should be wary of such calls and similar calls inviting recipients to take COVID-19 vaccines. They should never give up their personal information for any reason. Residents should instead directly contact the Wood County Health Department on 419-352-8402 to verify such information.
What are Wood County Arrest Warrant Scams?
Wood County arrest warrant scams involve scammers calling residents and claiming to be one “Lieutenant Holland” with the Sheriff’s Office. The scammers inform their targets that they have active arrest warrants out for them. They then attempt to glean financial information from them to pay off the supposed warrants. The Wood County Sheriff’s Office never serves warrants over the phone. Immediately hang up if you receive such calls. These calls can be reported by contacting Detective Lieutenant Rod Smith at 419-354-9682 or rlsmith@co.wood.oh.us. Reverse cell phone lookup tools can help recognize spoofed Caller IDs and determine unfamiliar callers’ identities.
What are Wood County Medicare Scams?
Medicare scammers call residents and pose as legitimate Medicare employees. The scammers tell the recipients that they will be issued new cards and numbers; hence, they need to confirm their current Medicare numbers. The scammers also demand processing fees for the new cards. In other cases, the scammers may claim that there are suspicious activities on the recipients’ accounts, requiring that the recipients verify their identities so benefits can be retained. Generally, the essence of these scams is to get residents to disclose personal information or make payments.
Wood County residents should note that scammers often use Caller ID spoofing to enhance their impersonation schemes, making their Caller IDs appear like that of legitimate Medicare employees. Persons that receive such calls can conduct reverse phone number lookups to uncover the identity of scammers. They may also contact Medicare on 800-633-4227 to verify claims.
What are Robocalls and Spam Calls?
Robocalls are programmed calls that convey pre-recorded messages to several individuals using auto-dialers. These calls are usually sent out in bulk and primarily used by political parties, telemarketers, and government agencies. Robocalls primarily disperse vital information to create awareness or make emergency announcements. Contrary to the original purpose of creating robocalls, scammers take undue advantage of robocalls and use them to defraud residents. In some cases, they add specific prompts to the robocalls for recipients to opt-out of receiving further calls or connect with live representatives. These prompts typically serve as bait for recipients to fall victim to potential scams. Therefore, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) came up with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in 1991 to regulate the use of robocalls.
The TCPA necessitates the prior consent of all recipients of robocalls before they are sent. Hence, robocalls sent without prior consent are considered illegal except it is any of the following authorized by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC):
- Robocalls for political campaigns
- Robocalls for debt collection
- Robocalls by legitimate health institutions
- Purely informational robocalls
- Robocalls by charitable organizations
Robocalls sent without prior consent, asides from the ones listed above, are considered illegal and can be reported to the FTC. Unsolicited robocalls are like spam calls as they both frustrate recipients. They convey mostly advertisement and proselytization messages, constituting nuisances to recipients.
Take these steps to handle robocalls:
- End the call instantly if you unknowingly pick a robocall and do not heed the prompts given during the call.
- Do not respond to questions asked during the call. For instance, if the robocaller asks, “can you hear me?” or any other question that entails you to answer yes, hang up instantly. Answering such a question can expose you to personal information theft, or the scammers may also place orders that you did not endorse.
- Identify and block robocalls using a good reverse phone lookup tool. Some phones also have in-built call-blocking apps, which can also be used to block phone numbers. Alternatively, reach out to your telephone service provider for call-blocking options.
- Subscribe to the National Do Not Call Registry with your personal phone numbers to minimize robocalls. You can report any unsolicited robocall received 31 days after the registration.
- Robocall complaints should be reported to the FTC through the online complaint assistant or by calling 1-888-382-1222.
How to Spot and Report Wood County Phone Scams?
Dealing with scams is a major issue for most citizens of Wood County because these scams take different forms, making it difficult to wipe them off completely. While it may be impossible to completely stop scammers from contacting you, looking out for scam indicators can help you not fall victim to them. They include:
- Acts of intimidation to get personal information or payment, whereby the caller threatens you with arrest, deportation, and license withdrawal. Ignore the threats and contact the impersonated entity personally on their website or via their official number.
- Insistence that you take immediate action on something that you usually should first verify. Ignore the pressure, research the subject of the call and use a phone number lookup to determine who called
- Payment demands for upfront fees for fake winnings. Terminate the call immediately and research the offer.
- Insistence on payment via gift cards, wire transfers, bitcoins, etc. These payment methods are untraceable and money paid is hard to retrieve.
- Requests for confidential personal and financial information, like account numbers, date of birth, social security number, mother’s maiden name, etc. Never share your personal information over the phone. Also, note that legitimate entities never demand such information.
- Calls requesting undue confidentiality for “security reasons.” This may be a scam, conduct a reverse phone look up to clear your doubt
- Payment demands for the retrieval of money previously lost to scams.
Wood County residents can contact any of these government agencies to report scams:
Wood County Sheriff’s Office - Residents can directly contact the Sheriff’s Office at (419) 354-9001 to report phone scams. Wood County Sheriff’s Office also provides regular updates on prevalent phone scams in the county on its website and social media pages.
Ohio State Attorney General’s Office - Reports of unwanted phone calls and general phones can be filed with the Ohio State Attorney General’s Office through the online complaint platform.
Federal Trade Commission - Residents can contact the FTC to report scam calls, Caller ID spoofing, identity theft, and violation of the National Do Not Call Registry via the online consumer complaint
Federal Bureau of Investigation - Individuals in Wood County may file complaints of phone scams by calling (202) 324-3000. The FBI will help investigate and track down the scammer.
Federal Communications Commission - Victims of phone scams, unwanted robocalls, Caller ID spoofing, and identity theft can report by completing the online complaint form or calling the FCC on 1-877-382-4357