What are Sarpy County Area Codes?
Area codes are the chain of three-digit numbers at the beginning of North American telephone numbers. They were established by the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) to represent the Numbering Plan Areas (NPAs) in a state. Area codes promote the ease of long-distance calling and help identify the origins and destinations of phone calls. Sarpy County area codes identify specific telephone service areas in the county. The Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC) regulates telecommunications in Nebraska and administers Sarpy County area codes. The two active area codes in Sarpy County are the 402 and 531 NPAs.
Area Code 402
Area code 402 a Nebraska telephone code and one of the first 86 area codes that came into active service in 1947. It serves several counties in the state, including Sarpy County. In Sarpy County, the 402 NPA covers Papillion, La Vista, Bellevue, and Gretna.
Area Code 531
Area code 531 overlays the 402 NPA and serves the locations within area code 402 in Sarpy County. It was launched into service in 2011.
What are the Best Cell Phone Plans in Sarpy County?
A survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2018 to study households' phone usage revealed that call phones are the most widely adopted telephony devices in Nebraska. The data showed that about 58.7% of adult Nebraskans used wireless-only telephony services, while only 4.2% still used landline phones as their sole telecommunication devices. Similarly, an estimated 71.1% of children under 18 years had adopted cell phones exclusively for telephony, while an insignificant 1.8% of them used landline phones only.
The major wireless service providers in Sarpy County are Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T. They all provide network services for the cities and communities in the county, although at varying levels of coverage. For example, the City of Papillion enjoys 88% coverage of Verizon, which is the best within the city. It is followed by Sprint at 72% network spread, while AT&T covers about 70% of the City of Papillion. T-Mobile offers the least coverage, which stands at 60%. Sarpy County residents also enjoy network services by smaller prepaid carriers known as Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs). MVNOs typically rely on the infrastructures of the four major network operators to provide telephony services.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a technology that offers telephony services at more affordable rates. It delivers communications over IP networks, the most popular of which is broadband internet. The high adoption rate of cell phones and internet-enabled devices by Sarpy County residents continues to contribute to VoIP usage as an alternative telephony service. VoIP supports text messaging, video conferencing, voice calling, and multimedia messaging.
What are Sarpy County Phone Scams?
Sarpy County phone scams are fraudulent activities that use telephone services to steal money and obtain personal information from Sarpy County residents. Since these scams are conducted over the phone, county residents can avoid them using reverse phone number lookup services to fetch the identities of unknown callers. In reality, phone scammers will never execute any scam scheme without concealing their real identities. They use a technology known as phone spoofing to mask their phone numbers and display those of legitimate businesses or government agencies. Doing this usually increases scammers' chances of making headways in their scam schemes. However, with reverse phone lookup applications, Sarpy County residents can identify spoofed phone calls and avoid scams. Fraudsters who perpetrate phone scams use services such as text messages, live phone calls, or robocalls.
Some public agencies are responsible for protecting county residents from falling prey to scammers, most especially through regular consumer education and phone scam awareness. They include:
- Nebraska Office of the Attorney General
- Federal Trade Commission
- Federal Communications Commission
- Sarpy County Sheriff's Office
Some of the prevalent phone scams in Sarpy County include:
What are Sarpy County Utility Scams?
Sarpy County residents should beware of scammers pretending to be employees of utility providers to defraud unsuspecting persons over the phone. Phone number search applications can reveal their real identities and help residents avoid these scams. These fraudsters have a preference for spoofing their targets' Caller IDs. They do this to display the official phone numbers of the local utility companies they claim to represent in a bid to gain credibility. In most cases, these fraudsters will claim their targets have unpaid bills and threaten to shut off services unless they receive immediate payments. In other instances, the scammers may claim there is an impending service shutdown and need their personal information to know if they can prevent them from being affected. They may request their targets' credit card information to complete payment or ask them to pay via wire transfers or gift cards. Whichever way, they always demand payments by unofficial methods that legitimate utility providers will never use.
As a standard, utility companies must notify consumers with delinquent bills by written letters before disconnecting services. Representatives of legitimate utility providers will never ask for consumers’ credit card information over the phone or request personal information. If you get such calls, hang up immediately and conduct a reverse phone lookup on the callers' phone number to retrieve information on them. Contact your utility provider on their official phone numbers to make inquiries on such claims and ascertain if the caller is indeed their employees. Never feel pressured into sending money until you have made your findings of the caller.
What are Sarpy County Grand Jury Scams?
Scammers are spoofing the official phone numbers of the Sarpy County Sheriff's Office (SCSO), claiming to be with the agency and calling them in an attempt to dupe them. They sometimes leave voice messages for their targets and ask them to call them back without fail. Residents who unexpectedly receive these types of calls can use applications that offer free reverse phone lookup services to retrieve the identities of such callers. In these scams, the callers often inform targeted residents that bench warrants were issued in their names for not attending grand jury summons trials. The scammers will say the court mailed such summons to their targets and were duly signed by them to buttress their claims. Usually, fraudsters who perpetrate these scams have a pool of information about their targets and may provide the addresses where such summons was sent. However, they will never disclose the details of the phony court cases. The callers will offer to cancel the warrants and lay the matter to rest if their targets agree to pay a certain amount of money. Their preferred medium of receiving payments are gift cards, wire transfers, and mailed cash. In some instances, they make arrangements for cash pickup at agreed locations within the county.
These fraudsters often threaten to arrest their targets if they fail to come up with the payment demanded. Sarpy County residents should know that the SCSO will never solicit payment or threaten arrest over the phone. The SCSO does not request payment via unofficial channels if it must do so. Unknown persons who try to intimidate you into paying them over the phone are potential scammers. Never send money to such callers to avoid needless financial loss. Reverse phone number lookup services can help you ascertain if strange calls are really from the Sarpy County Sheriff's Office and prevent you from falling victim.
What are Sarpy County Tax Scams?
To avoid tax scams, Sarpy County residents should bear in mind that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does not initiate phone calls with residents unless at their request. Residents who receive such calls purportedly from the IRS should verify the callers' identities using applications that offer reverse phone lookup free services. Never be coerced into paying or disclosing confidential information to unknown persons who call you and claim to be with the IRS. In tax scams, fraudsters usually have enough information about their targets and always sound convincing when preying on them. They use various ploys to get their targets to share confidential information with them, which they subsequently use to commit identity and financial theft. In a prevalent version of tax scams in Sarpy County, scammers will inform targeted residents that they have tax refunds due to them. Their marks, however, must confirm social security numbers, addresses, and names to enable them to process such refunds. Another variant involves fraudsters who often claim that residents owe taxes and demand immediate payment via irregular payment methods such as wire transfers or gift cards. They usually emphasize immediate payment to avoid arrest, deportation, or jail.
It is crucial to state that the IRS will never request taxpayers' personal information over the phone because they already have them on file. Also, the IRS seldom brings in law enforcement to recover delinquent taxes. Anyone who claims to be with the IRS and threatens to arrest you is a fraudster. You can verify such claims by retrieving information about the caller using a number lookup application.
What are Sarpy County Charity Scams?
Although happening all year round, charity scams are more prevalent during pandemics, emergencies, and disasters. Scammers take advantage of these periods to extort unsuspecting Sarpy County residents, claiming to be with familiar charities. If you receive this type of call, check out the caller's profile using a phone number lookup application to avoid getting cheated. Also, ask for the charity's name, official phone numbers, and address and then confirm the details of such a charity online and contact them directly to verify the caller's claim. Running the official phone numbers provided by the caller through services that allow reverse number lookups can return information that will help determine if the caller is legitimate or not. The callers often solicit donations for specific courses, taking advantage of residents' benevolence to enrich themselves.
In some cases, scammers make up charity names that sound familiar with veritable charity organizations. Their usual means of requesting contribution include wire transfer and prepaid cards. Sometimes, they may agree to cash donations and appeal to their targets to mail such cash. Sarpy County residents can avoid falling for charity scam schemes by verifying the genuineness of any charities that contact them and request their contributions.
What are Robocalls and Spam Calls?
Robocalls are automated calls that deliver prerecorded messages to mass phone numbers at once. Political campaign organizations, government agencies, and telemarketers use robocalls for legitimate purposes. A lot of robocalls are, however, illegal, annoying, and intrusive. Such robocalls are considered spam calls because they are mostly irrelevant and unwanted. They can be identified using reverse phone number lookup applications. Fraudsters usually spoof robocalls in attempts to steal money and personal information from unsuspecting individuals. Sarpy County residents must be wary of incoming phone calls with caller information that appear like legitimate entities to avoid falling victim to robocall scams. To reduce the inundation of robocalls and avoid illegal robocalls, the best options are:
- Decline calls from unknown phone numbers. If you do answer and realize it is a robocall, hang up immediately.
- Add your phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry by calling 1 (888) 382-1222 or online. The robocalls you still receive after 31 days of registration are potential scams.
- Report illegal robocalls and spam numbers online to the FTC and spoofed robocalls to the FCC.
- Contact your phone company to block identified robocall numbers each time you get them. However, doing this for each robocall may be tiring. You can use third-party call-blocking applications to bar each of those numbers.
How Can You Spot and Report Sarpy County Phone Scams?
Staying informed about various scam schemes can help Sarpy County residents spot scams before they are cheated. Generally, scammers use several ploys to extort their targets. However, residents can uncover the identities of unknown callers using suspicious phone number lookup tools and avoid scams. Signs that a call from an unidentified phone number is a scam include:
- The caller insists on payments via gift cards, bitcoins, or wire transfers because transactions done through them are hard to trace and recover.
- The caller claims to be with a legitimate entity but requests confidential information such as PINs and passwords. A legitimate business will not ask for such information over the phone.
- The caller claims to be with local law enforcement but threatens you to achieve their requests. A legitimate law enforcement officer will not do such.
- An unknown caller offers attractive investment opportunities and wants you to invest your money immediately.
Sarpy County residents who are victims of phone scams contact any of the following public agencies for help:
Sarpy County Sheriff's Office - Sarpy County residents can file reports on phone scams to the SCSO by calling (402) 593-4167. They may also file complaints in person at 8335 Platteview Road, Papillion, NE 68046.
Nebraska Office of the Attorney General - The Consumer Protection Unit of the Attorney General’s Office periodically publishes consumer news, including trending scams. Residents can file phone scam complaints with the AG office online or by calling (402) 471-2682.
Federal Trade Commission - The FTC established the National Do Not Call Registry to protect residents from unwanted calls. Sarpy County residents can file complaints on illegal robocalls and other phone scam incidents with the FTC online or call 1 (888) 382-1222.