What are Kennebec County Area Codes?
An area code is a string of three digits that forms the first part of all 10-digit North American phone numbers. The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) introduced area codes to harmonize the various old local telephone numbering plans and ease direct distance dialing. Kennebec County area code identifies the telephone service area or Numbering Plan Area (NPA) for all phone numbers registered in the county. Kennebec County is served by a single area code (207). The Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) is the delegated agency charged with regulating the state’s area codes, including Kennebec County.
Area Code 207
Area code 207 is a Maine telephone code that formerly served the entire state besides Estcourt Station. Established in 1947 as one of the earliest 86 area codes, it now serves all of Kennebec County. Kennebec County cities and communities within this area code include Gardiner, Hallowell, Waterville, Albion, Belgrade, and Clinton. Others are Chelsea, Farmingdale, Litchfield, Winthrop, Fayette, Winslow, Monmouth, Wayne, and Pittston.
What are the Best Cell Phone Plans in Kennebec County?
Based on statistics from a 2018 survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), more Kennebec County residents relied on cell phones than landlines. About 47.7% of the total population of Maine adults used only cell phones for telecommunications compared to a meager 6.7% who were solely landline phone users. Phone usage among Maine children fared the same, with 63.1% accounting for sole cell phone users.
Several phone carriers, including America’s four major carriers, provide phone services in the entire State of Maine, including Kennebec County. Only Verizon has the most decent coverage and provides phone service for 59.3% of the county. AT&T and T-Mobile have network coverages of 46.6% and 31.6%, respectively. Sprint has the least network spread of 11.7%. Numerous MVNOs also offer competitively priced phone service options for residents outside the reach of the major carriers. MVNOs depend on the major carriers’ network infrastructures to provide phone services.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provides an alternative means of telecommunication that is fast gaining popularity in Kennebec County. It allows phone calls over broadband internet connections rather than typical analog telephone lines. While primary VoIP phone services only support telephony services for other internet-enabled phone services, interconnected VoIP phone users can exchange calls with landlines for a fee. VoIP supports voice calls, video conferencing, and text messaging.
What are Kennebec County Phone Scams?
These are the fraudulent schemes intended to deceive Kennebec County residents into sharing their confidential information and parting with money. Fraudsters exploit recent advances in telephony technology to extort their targets. Kennebec County residents can, however, counter phone scams using reverse phone lookup tools. They can also report their scam encounters to certain public agencies committed to combating phone scams. They include:
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office
Federal Communications Commission
Office of the Maine Attorney General
Common phone scams making the rounds in Kennebec County include:
What are Kennebec County Law Enforcement Scams?
Scammers rely heavily on the fear residents have for law enforcement to pull these scams. Using actual or fake officers’ names, badge numbers, and spoofed phone numbers as additional confidence props, scammers make unsolicited phone requests for money. They cite a variety of offenses as reasons for demanding these payments, including failure to pay traffic tickets, missed jury duty, and outstanding warrants. Residents are usually quick to comply since they believe genuine law enforcement agents are calling. In most cases, scammers employ threats of immediate arrest to coerce targets into making hasty decisions and ignore any suspicions they may harbor.
The Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office advises residents who suspect that law enforcement officers are being impersonated to contact the agency on its official phone numbers. Residents who receive these types of calls can conduct free reverse phone lookups to ascertain the real identities of the callers. The Sheriff’s Office reiterates that its officers will never ask for any confidential information or request payments over the phone.
What are Kennebec County Computer Repair Scams?
One version of this scam involves scammers calling their marks and posing as representatives of reputable computer companies. They claim to have noticed a dangerous virus attack on their marks’ computers during routine checks. In another iteration, fraudsters attempt to convince their marks that urgent repairs are required on their computers to avoid a total breakdown. These scammers often spoof the official phone numbers of the computer companies they impersonate. They primarily aim to get unfettered access to their marks’ computers and usually request remote access to achieve this. These scammers also create a sense of urgency by scaring targets with imminent PC crashes or complete file loss.
Granting these scammers remote access enables them to install malware and spyware with which they retrieve confidential information from their marks’ computers. They can also lock their victims out of such computers and demand payment for phony repairs before releasing control. Hang up on such calls once you suspect the caller is a scammer. Ignore or delete pop-up warnings about any computer problem and never allow an unknown caller to access your computer remotely. Either take your computer to a local tech expert or request verified tech support using phone numbers from your computer company’s official website or phone listing. Reverse phone lookup free tools can help Kennebec County residents ascertain the authenticity of these callers and avoid computer repair scams.
What are Kennebec County Medicare Scams?
Scammers often target elderly Mainers who are Medicare beneficiaries in these scams with phone calls, pretending to be Medicare employees or from the “Health Office”. Although it happens all year round, these scams are usually rampant during the last quarter of every year, courtesy, Medicare Open Enrollment (MOE). In the past, these scammers steal their marks’ identities by using different tricks to elicit confidential information such as social security numbers, names, and other related financial information. Presently, however, they are keen on stealing their targets’ unique Medicare numbers, and they attempt to achieve this through various ways.
One way involves asking their marks to verify their identities by sharing personal identifying information to either receive new or updated Medicare cards. Scammers may even inform their marks that charges apply for receiving these cards and subsequently request their credit card numbers. These con artists may also notify their targets that they qualify for false Medicare refunds and offer vague reasons to support these claims. They ask targets to provide Medicare numbers and bank account information to facilitate direct deposits of such refunds. To increase their chances of success and appear more legitimate, scammers often research basic information about their targets before contacting them.
Never provide any confidential information to unknown persons over the phone. Note that Medicare will never call you unless you initiate a call and request a return phone call. Beware of notifications informing you that your Medicare card has expired and offering a renewal. Residents of Kennebec County who suspect these calls as fraudulent can file complaints with Medicare on 1 (800) 633-4227. They can also run unknown callers’ phone numbers through phone number lookup search engines to retrieve identifying information about them and foil these scams.
What are Robocalls and Spam Calls?
A robocall delivers a recorded message to several recipients within a short time via an auto-dialed phone call. A robocall, a type of spam call, uses a robot-like voice to convey such a recorded message. Spam calls are typically delivered by an actual person dialing phone numbers from a calling list. They may also be made using automated dialers on occasion. Robocalls are used for various legitimate purposes, some of which include political campaigns, telemarketing sales calls, debt collection, and charity-related solicitations. They can also be used for emergency announcements and other public-service notifications such as school updates and doctor appointment reminders, among others.
Robocalls are also being used in various scam schemes and are sometimes used to isolate potential scam targets. Scammers find robocalls convenient and affordable to use in expanding their reach. They can also mask their identities with the aid of spoofed robocalls and impersonate any trusted entity they desire. Kennebec County residents can expose potential robocall scams using phone number lookup free applications.
The following course of action are appropriate responses to robocalls and spam calls:
- Do not provide yes answers when prompted on a robocall. Doing this will arm scammers with the ability to authorize fraudulent charges on your accounts.
- Ignore all calls from unknown phone numbers.
- Add your phone number to the FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry, a database of registered phone numbers that cannot be targeted by telemarketing calls. Interested persons can register for free online call 1 (888) 382-1222 from the phone number they intend to enroll. Although registrations become effective after 31 days, scammers can still call you afterward since they are not bound by the DNC rules.
- Do not engage robocalls for any reason. Doing so will increase your chances of being scammed. Your phone number may be sold to other scammers, and you will be marked as a viable future scam target.
- Activate your phone service provider’s call-blocking tools and services. Most phone manufacturers also provide certain features that are built into your phone to flag or block out unwanted automated calls.
- Download third-party call-blocking apps from online phone stores free or for a fee. They can help you identify and filter out all unwanted automated calls.
How Can You Spot and Report Kennebec County Phone Scams?
Phone scammers rely on their targets’ ignorance to score successful scams. Hence, their need to disguise themselves as trusted entities by manipulating their marks’ Caller ID information. Kennebec County residents can detect phone scams by getting familiar with prevalent scams and common tactics employed by scammers. Doing this will also help residents increase their vigilance and avoid falling prey to phone scams. Performing phone number lookups by name and address can also help them uncover valuable information on unknown callers.
These common warning signs can help you mark out a phone call as a potential scam:
- Unsolicited calls from unknown callers: Scammers are notorious for initiating contact and often call out of the blue. You can only confirm who a call recipient is if you initiated the call. Services that offer reverse cell phone lookups can, however, help you retrieve suspicious callers’ identities.
- Requests for advance payments: Fraudsters often ask their marks to pay money upfront to receive prizes or free products/services.
- Unusual payment channel: Scammers prefer receiving payment via odd channels such as wire transfers, reloadable cards, cryptocurrencies, and money orders. Note that transacting through any of these methods is like sending cash which cannot be recovered once it is sent.
- Requests for confidential information: Con artists are always searching for their marks’ personal or financial information to steal money or identity. Scammers may also sell such information to other fraudsters for a higher fee. Legitimate entities will not call and ask to confirm their customers’ confidential information since they have them on file.
- Request for secrecy: This is a major feature of most scams. Fraudsters often ask their marks to keep their interactions a secret to maintain their deceptive hold on them. They realize that telling family and friends about such engagements may blow their cover.
Kennebec County residents can access consumer information provided by the following government institutions and file reports of phone scam incidents with them:
Federal Trade Commission (FTC): The FTC defends American consumers from identity theft, phone scams, and other fraudulent business practices. They also developed the National Do Not Call Registry to protect registered phone users from unwanted robocalls. Residents can file reports of DNC violations, identity thefts, and other phone scams online with the FTC.
Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office: Kennebec County residents affected by phone scams can file complaints with this office by calling (207) 623-3614.
Federal Communications Commission: The FCC regulates all interstate and international communications. They strive to keep consumers safe from illegal robocalls, phone spoofing scams, and other phone frauds. Kennebec County residents who have been victims of phone scams or whose identities have been spoofed can submit online reports of these incidents to the FTC.
Office of the Maine Attorney General: The Maine OAG combats phone scams and ensures that residents are safe from anti-competitive and unfair business entities. Mainers, including Kennebec County residents who are phone scam victims, can submit completed complaint forms to this office or call (207) 626-8849.