What are Mesa County Area Codes?
Area codes are the three-digit codes that represent the geographical location of calls, i.e., the call’s originating location and destination. They appear before every 10-digit North American telephone number under the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). These sets of numbers represent Numbering Plan Areas (NPAs), making it possible to identify the areas certain calls originate from. Specific areas have at least one area code attached to them, some as original area codes, while others are overlays area codes split from the original area codes. Residents can conduct area code lookups using free reverse phone lookup services to identify the originating location of certain calls.
Mesa County has only one area code, which is:
Area Code 970
Area code 970 serves most of the western and northern parts of Colorado, including Steamboat Springs, Aspen, Loveland, Breckenridge, Durango, Estes Park, Fort Collins, Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction, Greeley, Silverthorne, and Vail. Area code 970 became active in a split from area code 303 on April 2, 1995.
What are the Best Cell Phone Plans in Mesa County?
Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint are the four best wireless network providers in Mesa County, as they all provide good coverage. Verizon has the overall best network coverage in Mesa County with 92%. AT&T is the second-best with 86%, followed by T-Mobile, with 76% and lastly, Sprint, with 70%. These wireless network providers provide quality networks, but they may sometimes be affected by bad weather, such as heavy storms and fog.
The CDC released the National Center of Health Statistics survey in 2018. The survey examined the telephone service preference of minors and adults in the United States. Based on the survey in Colorado, most adults and minors in the state exclusively used wireless telephones instead of landlines. The survey reveals that 61.4% of the Colorado adult population used only wireless telephones. In contrast, 3% of the adults in Colorado used only landlines as their sole telephony service option. In comparison, 67.9% of minors in Colorado exclusively used only wireless telephone services, while just 0.6% of minors used only landlines.
VoIP has experienced a significant increase in the number of its users over the years in Mesa County. Residents and businesses now embrace VoIP, Voice over Internet Protocol, as a worthy replacement to wireless telephone networks. VoIP provides affordable and flexible services that are necessary to both residents and businesses. Users can access these services by subscribing to the actual subscription plans that suit their needs. VoIP services include name dialing, anonymous calling, conference calling, auto line attendants, call routing, advanced call management, voicemail/ call forwarding, call rejection, call analytics, etc.
What are Mesa County Phone Scams?
Mesa County phone scams involve scammers manipulating residents to steal from them and get them to share their personal information for fraudulent purposes. These scams are carried out using telephony services and may also employ the use of advanced innovations like Caller ID spoofing and robocalls. With these tools, scammers can use deception and impersonation to defraud unsuspecting residents. Both tools support anonymity; hence, scammers can use them to manipulate their Caller ID information and make the call appear to be from legitimate entities. These fraudulent schemes have made the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) create awareness of illegal Caller ID spoofing and how to identify it. The FCC has also enlightened residents on the procedures of using call blocking tools and resources available to them.
Residents are encouraged to always use reverse cell phone lookup services to conduct phone number lookups to avoid falling victim to scams.
Common phone scams in Mesa County include:
What are Mesa County Lottery Scams?
In lottery scams, fraudsters contact residents, informing them of prizes or money they won. However, the fraudsters first request payment of processing fees, taxes, or any form of payment upfront to receive the winnings. Note that winnings do not require the beneficiaries to make payment. Be wary of such scams. You may verify who called by conducting a phone number search.
What are Mesa County Jury Duty/Warrant Scams?
Here, the caller claims to be an officer of the court, local police department, or representative from the district attorney’s office. The caller tells the recipient that they failed to report for jury duty or committed another crime like credit card fraud. They add that a warrant has been issued for their arrest. A resident in such a situation will most likely respond that they never received any notice. This then cues the caller to request personal identifying information, such as the recipient’s birth date and social security number for “verification purposes.” After getting the recipient’s personal identifying information, the scammer may tell the recipient that they can clear their record if they pay a fine. Typically, the scammer will insist that the payment is made via rechargeable or prepaid cards. After this, the scammer tells the recipient to send the prepaid card’s account number and pin via certified mail to the local agency. However, the scammer will fraudulently remove the money before the card reaches its destination. This makes the card useless and the scammer, untraceable.
Residents should be wary of such scams and note that police officers, court officers, and other government representatives will never ask for personal information over the phone. Generally, contact with prospective jurors is through U.S. mail. Government agencies will never pressure anyone or demand payment to negotiate a warrant. Only scammers will ask victims to purchase prepaid or gift cards to make payments; beware of such schemes.
Victims of such calls should hang up. With the verified phone number of the law enforcement or government agency that the scammer claims to be, they should verify the information provided. Conducting a phone number lookup free of charge with a free reverse phone lookup tool can also save you from falling victim to such scams.
What are Mesa County Romance Scams?
In this scam, a scammer starts an online relationship with the target, and once they gain their trust, they strike. The scammer then requests money for a family emergency requiring urgent financial aid or a plane ticket to travel to see the target. The scammer may also request the target’s personal information or have them sign up for credit cards. Residents should be wary of such schemes and always conduct background checks on potential lovers to verify that they are actually who they say they are. Residents may also share the details of their online relationships with trusted and responsible adults.
What are Mesa County Social Security Scams?
Scammers call residents using spoofed Caller IDs of the Social Security Administration, making the calls appear to be from the SSA. They tell residents that their social security numbers have been compromised or their social security numbers have been linked to crimes. The scammers then request payment to resolve the situation or the residents’ bank account information for verification. They threaten their targets, saying they will suspend their social security accounts if they do not make immediate payments via prepaid cards, cash, gift cards, bitcoins, or wire transfers.
Individuals should be careful not to fall victim to such scams, as their social security accounts can not be suspended for any reason. The SSA will also never contact residents to demand money or bank account information. Individuals that receive such calls may find out who called by performing suspicious phone number lookups with good reverse phone lookup tools.
What are Robocalls and Spam Calls?
Robocalls refer to calls made using programmed autodialers to reach out to many persons within a short time. They mostly deliver prerecorded messages sent by political bodies, legitimate charitable organizations, and government agencies. While legitimate robocalls specifically disseminate emergency announcements and create awareness for good causes. Fraudsters use robocalls to deceive residents into making certain payments or divulging their personal and financial information with them. Due to the danger caused by robocall scams, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) established the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991 to regulate the use of robocalls. According to the TCPA, individuals are not allowed to randomly send robocalls without first getting the willful consent of each recipient the robocalls are to be sent to. Any robocall that violates this rule is considered illegal, and victims are authorized to report them.
In addition to the TCPA, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) exempts certain robocalls from the consent rule, which implies that these robocalls do not require permission from the recipients:
- Legitimate health institution robocalls
- Political campaign robocalls
- Charitable organization robocalls
- Debt collection robocalls
- Informational robocalls
Spam calls, like illegal robocalls, constitute a nuisance to the recipients. They are unsolicited calls carrying irrelevant messages, which are sent to several persons without their permission. Spam calls mainly advertise or proselytize to the recipients.
The best way to avoid robocall scams is to refrain from picking them, but if you mistakenly pick, take these steps:
- Terminate the call immediately and use the call-blocking app on your cell phone to block the phone number permanently. Also, reach out to your phone network service provider for more call-blocking options.
- Do not respond to any prompts given during the call because most of them are traps to target the recipients with more robocalls. The prompts may be for recipients to opt-out of the robocalls or be connected with live representatives. Ignore such prompts.
- Exploit the FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry by signing up with all your phone numbers to reduce robocalls. Your phone number becomes active after 31 days of registration, and you can then report any robocalls you receive.
- Report unsolicited robocalls to the FTC online or call 1-888-382-1222 to report.
How to Spot and Report Mesa County Phone Scams?
Phone scams have become very popular, occurring in every part of the county; hence, residents must be vigilant and know how to spot phone scams. Here are the major red flags of scammers:
- The caller requests that you pay certain amounts of money via unconventional payment methods such as bitcoins, wire transfers, cash, gift cards, prepaid cards. Getting a refund for money paid through any of these means is almost impossible.
- The caller pressurizes you to act instantly while threatening you with arrest, deportation, license revocation, and other serious consequences.
- The caller requests your personal information. Personal information such as social security numbers, mothers' maiden names, credit card numbers, passwords, etc., should not be disclosed.
- The caller withholds basic information about themselves and tells you not to disclose the details of the call to anyone.
- The caller appeals for financial assistance for themselves or other individuals with unverifiable claims.
- The caller informs you that you won a gift, lottery, award, etc., but asks you to make payment for processing fees or taxes before receiving your winnings.
- The caller tells you about a business and investment opportunity, claiming that it is hitch-free with high returns and no risks.
- The caller claims to be able to assist in retrieving money you lost to a scam for a fee.
While conducting phone number lookups can help identify scammers and answer the question “who is this number registered to?” it is necessary to take a step further to report the scammers to any of these government agencies:
Mesa County Sheriff’s Office - Report scams online or by calling (970) 242-6707 to file a report with a deputy. Call 911 if the case requires urgent attention. Identity theft scams can be reported online to the Sheriff’s Office.
State of Colorado Attorney General - File a complaint to report a phone scam to the AG.
Federal Communications Commission - Complete the online complaint form to report illegal robocalls, Caller ID spoofing frauds, and other phone scams to the FCC.
Federal Bureau of Investigation - File complaints of general fraud and criminal matters to (202) 324-3000.
Federal Trade Commission - File complaints to report identity theft, illegal Caller ID spoofing, illegal robocalls, unwanted telemarketing calls, texts, or spam calls, and other scams. Reports can also be made by calling 877-FTC-HELP or 877-ID-THEFT.