What are Cumberland County Area Codes?
Area codes are the first three digits of every North American telephone number. They indicate the specific Numbering Plan Area (NPA) in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) where a call was placed from. Residents can determine where calls originate by using free reverse phone lookup services to conduct area code lookups. The North Carolina Utilities Commission regulates area codes in the state.
Area Code 910
Area code 910 was created in 1993 when area code 919 was split. Area code 910 was the state's first new area code in 39 years. It serves Southeastern North Carolina, including the Cities of Fayetteville, Wilmington, Jacksonville, Laurinburg, and Lumberton.
What Are the Best Cell Phone Plans in Cumberland County?
In Cumberland County, AT&T has the widest network coverage with 96% coverage, compared to other network providers. T-Mobile has the second-best coverage with 88%, followed by Verizon with 84% and lastly, Sprint with 66%. However, despite this data, certain densely populated parts of the county may experience low network quality. The network quality may also be adversely affected by bad weather conditions.
The National Center of Health Statistics survey for 2018 reports that an estimate of 57.3% of the North Carolina adult population used only wireless telephones, while just 4.5% of the adult population used only landlines. In comparison to the telephony service preference of minors under the age of 18 in North Carolina, there is a more glaring difference. 69% of the North Carolina minors preferred wireless-only services, while only 2.6% used solely landline telephony services. From the statistical report, it can be deduced that both the adults and minors in North Carolina prefer to use cell phones rather than landlines.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is gradually taking over the telephony service aspect of telecommunications in Cumberland County. VoIP uses broadband internet connections to transmit voice and multimedia data from the sender to the receiver. VoIP is generally more flexible and less expensive compared to other telephony services. It allows long-distance and video calls at very affordable prices as long as the network is stable at both ends. It also enables other functions that are vital to businesses and residential users
What Are Cumberland County Phone Scams?
Cumberland County phone scams involve the perpetration of fraudulent schemes with telephony services. Scammers often target specific groups of people in the county. For instance, while grandparents’ scams are targeted at senior citizens, investment scams may be targeted at young people who are striving to make a living. Generally, these scammers aim to steal money and personal financial information from their targets. They sometimes use advanced telephony services to facilitate their criminal schemes by targeting residents with robocalls or copying the phone numbers of legitimate entities to steal their identities and defraud county residents. Cumberland County residents can use good reverse phone number lookup services to uncover these ploys and block scammers that contact them. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also elaborates on ways to identify common phone scams.
Scams commonly perpetrated in Cumberland County include:
What are Jury Duty Scams?
This involves scammers impersonating employees of the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department to defraud residents. Here, residents receive calls from scammers that identify themselves as Captains with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office. These scammers often use legitimate names of Captains in the Sheriff’s Department. During the calls, the recipients are told that they have missed federal jury duty and “inactive” warrants are out for their arrests. The scammers then tell the recipients to make payment by gift cards or they will have to respond to the Cumberland County Jail.
Residents that receive such calls are advised to hang up immediately and contact their local police departments or the Cumberland County Regional Communications Center. They can also use reverse phone lookup services to find out who called them.
What are Contact Tracing Scams?
Scammers have begun to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to steal residents’ personal information. These scammers contact residents through calls and voice messages pretending to be from the Cumberland County Department of Public Health. The scammers then tell their targets that the call is about “an urgent health matter.” Be informed that legitimate contact tracers that work with the COVID-19 Community Team will never ask for your personal or financial information at any time. Some information scammers often demand include Social Security Numbers and bank or credit card numbers. Note that text messages from the COVID-19 Community Team responsible for contact tracing only come from the number 45394. Emails are sent from the official email address - NC-ARIAS-NoReply@dhhs.nc.gov.
Never give out your personal and financial information; instead, immediately hang up. Report cases like this to the Cumberland County Health Department at 910-433-3600, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. You can also conduct a suspicious phone number lookup to identify the caller.
What are Impersonation Scams?
Impersonation scams are quite prevalent in Cumberland County. They involve fraudsters stealing the identities of employees of legitimate businesses and government agencies to make their targets give out their personal or financial details. They claim to require the requested information for official updates or to allocate specific social benefits. Some legitimate businesses and government agencies that scammers usually impersonate include law enforcement agencies, the IRS, financial institutions, health institutions, etc.
Scammers also steal the identities of the targets’ family members and close acquaintances to defraud their targets. They then seek financial assistance for emergencies that need to be immediately resolved. The aim is to make their targets act based on their emotions and not consider the situation logically.
If you receive any calls from unfamiliar numbers, avoid picking them until you do a reverse phone look up to identify the caller. However, if you pick a call where the caller makes any dubious demands, hang up immediately. Do not give out your personal information or make any form of payment. Instead, directly place a call to the person or government official that you suspect was impersonated to determine the validity of the call.
What are Charity Scams?
Here, the scammer pretends to be calling on behalf of legitimate charitable organizations. They then solicit donations from residents, claiming that the donations will be used to help less privileged persons. However, these scammers end up misappropriating the funds that are donated.
If you are contacted by someone claiming to be from a charitable organization, use a phone number lookup service to answer the question “who is this number registered to.” This will help verify the caller’s identity and save you from falling victim. Also, to avoid charity scams, directly make donations to legitimate charitable organizations.
What are Robocalls and Spam Calls?
Robocalls are programmed calls that carry pre-recorded audio messages. These calls usually contain prompts to speak with live-representatives or to permanently opt-out from receiving such calls. Robocalls are usually targeted at a large number of persons. Typically, they are sent on behalf of political parties, non-profit organizations, and telemarketing companies. However, fraudsters have also begun to use robocalls for fraudulent purposes, such as to defraud victims and to steal their personal and financial information. Spam calls are unwanted calls that most times contain irrelevant information that may be aimed at defrauding the receiver. Some spam calls are also for advertisement purposes. Residents can use services that provide phone number lookup free to identify spam calls and block them.
The FTC provides residents with information on the use of robocalls and on how to avoid robocalls. They include:
- Immediately hang up the moment you discover that you have picked a robocall. In addition, do not follow any prompts given during calls even if you are told to press numbers to unsubscribe from such calls. Following such prompts helps the robocaller identify active numbers and target them with more unsolicited calls.
- Get a free reverse phone number lookup app that can identify robocalls and spam calls and block them.
- Register your cell phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry to restrict robocalls and other unwanted calls.
- Use the FTC’s online complaint assistant to electronically file a complaint regarding an illegal robocall or call 1-888-382-1222.
How to Spot and Report Cumberland County Phone Scams?
Generally, phone scammers are persuasive and cunning. They are also highly skilled in the use of telephony services to perpetrate their schemes. Phone scammers constantly develop innovative methods of defrauding unsuspecting persons. Cumberland County residents must always be vigilant and careful to avoid falling into the hands of these scammers. Here are major ways how to identify scams and report them:
- Your personal or financial information is requested - Hang up immediately and do not give out any information. Conduct a reverse phone look up to figure out who called.
- You are asked to make payment via a gift card - End the call immediately and report this to the law enforcement agency in your city or the Cumberland County Sheriff Department. Legitimate agencies never request payment over the phone. Note that payments made via wire transfers, reloadable debit cards, and gift cards are hard to trace and refund may be impossible.
- You receive an unwanted call from an unknown number - Use a good reverse phone lookup service to do a phone number search that will help identify the caller. You can block the caller’s phone number with such service. Reach out to your phone carrier to get call blocking options.
- You are told to sign up for a seemingly lucrative investment or business - Don’t be pressured to take a decision regarding the offer until you have done your research on the caller and the offer. You may also conduct a free phone number lookup by name to identify the caller.
- You are told to conceal the details of a call or a so-called deal - Hang up and inform trusted family members or friends.
- You are told to pay before you can receive a “reward” - Rewards, grants, lotteries, prizes, etc. should come free, without you having to make any form of payment. Hang up immediately and do not make any payment or disclose your financial information
The government agencies listed below provide measures to fight phone scams in Cumberland County:
Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department - Residents can report scams by calling Crimestoppers at 483-TIPS (8477) or toll-free 866-542-TIPS (8477). If the case is an emergency, call 911.
Cumberland County Federal Credit Union - Provides information on what to do if you are scammed.
North Carolina Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division - Provides tips on how to fight scams and identity theft. Residents can also be regularly alerted of scams by signing up for free. Victims can file complaints to report scams.
Federal Trade Commission - Residents can report phone scams or suspicious calls through the FTC’s online consumer complaint assistant. They can also register on the National Do Not Call Registry to reduce unsolicited calls. The FTC provides information on ways to identify common phone scams and avoid robocalls.
Federal Communications Commission - Residents can report illegal caller ID spoofing and other phone scams online by completing the complaint form. The FCC also informs residents on ways to identify Caller ID spoofing and enable call blocking on their cell phones.