What are Berks County Area Codes?
The area code system for telecommunications went into effect in 1947 and was called the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). An area code is a set of three digits that is part of a telephone number, routing long-distance calls to their destination. An area code is useful in identifying the origin and destination of a phone call.
There are currently three area codes covering Berks County. These are:
Area Code 610
Area code 610 covers Allentown, Reading, Bethlehem, Norristown, Chester, Drexel Hill, Easton, Pottstown, King of Prussia, and Westchester. It is located in eastern Pennsylvania and has a single overlay (484) that covers the same area. Area code 610 went into use on January 8, 1994.
Area Code 717
Area code 717 is one of the first 86 codes created by AT&T and the Bell System in 1947. Initially, it served the eastern area of Pennsylvania except for the Lehigh Valleys and Delaware. It was split in 1998 to form area code 570. Currently, area code 717 covers Lancaster, Harrisburg, York, Lebanon, Chambersburg, Carlisle, Hanover, Hershey, Ephrata, and Colonial Park.
Area Code 484
Area code 484 was created from the area code 610 and was put in service in 1999. It is an overlay for area code 610 and serves the same area. Located in eastern Pennsylvania, area code 484 covers Allentown, Reading, Yeadon, Emmaus, Broomall, Darby, Ardmore, Phoenixville, Fullerton, Audubon, Sanatoga, Brookhaven, and Wyomissing.
What Are the Best Cell Phone Plans in Berks County?
According to a 2018 survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, 43.4% of adults in Pennsylvania used wireless-only telephony service, while 4.3% of telephone users adopted landline telephony service only. When compared with the figures from persons below the age of 18, the gap widened. In that category, 52.5% used wireless-only telephony service while 2.3% used landline-only telephony service.
Other than the four major carriers, other smaller service providers known as Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) resell telephony services purchased from the major carriers to consumers at reduced retail prices. The major carriers typically have extra infrastructure capacity which can be leased to MVNOs for a small profit. MVNOs can in turn, mark down their retail prices on cell phone plans because they have no infrastructure to build and maintain. Several MNVOs also exist in Berks County providing telephony services to residents under their own business brands.
AT&T has the widest coverage in Berks County with 96% coverage. Verizon has 82% coverage, T-Mobile has 78% coverage, while Sprint has 64%.
Berks County also has several service providers offering VoIP telephony service. VoIP refers to Voice Over Internet Protocol, a technology that is used to deliver voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol networks. A landline phone system sends voice communications via a traditional analog PBX system, while VoIP transmits voice calls using IP, as data packets. VoIP solutions bring together voice and data capabilities on a single network, eliminating the need for separate lines and providers for each. Therefore, VoIP users are able to cut down on call costs.
What are Berks County Phone Scams?
Berk County phone scams are fraudulent activities perpetrated using phone calls used by fraudsters to con Berks County residents out of their money or to obtain their personal information to commit fraud. The tricks used can range from pretending to be from their banks to selling residents goods or services that are fake or will never arrive. Common phone scams in Berks County include debt collection scams, grandparent phone scams, tech-support scams, COVID-19 scams, and IRS impersonation scams.
What are Berks County Debt Collection Scams?
Debt collection scams are one of the most prevalent scams in Berks County and the State of Pennsylvania. In a debt collection scam, the caller claims to be calling from the Office of the Attorney General and threatens debt collection to collect an unpaid payday loan or other debt. The scammer threatens that the resident will be charged with theft by deception and arrested by a local law enforcement agency if payment by credit card or electronic money transfer is not made within 24 hours.
What are Berks County Grandparent Phone Scams?
Here, the scammer poses as a grandchild of the target and may begin the call by asking if the grandparent knows who the caller is. Many grandparents respond with a name that the scammer assumes for the purpose of extorting the target. The "grandchild" describes some type of urgent or distress situation, such as needing to leave a foreign country, paying a medical bill, needing bail money, or auto-repair money. The scammer may claim to be embarrassed to ask any other person and try to dissuade the grandparent from contacting any other family member. Financial help is often requested through money transfer services such as Western Union or MoneyGram.
In some situations, the scammer may investigate the identity of a grandchild before initiating a call to the grandparent. The scammer may also enlist the help of a third party who poses as a bail bondsman or a government official requesting money to help set the “grandchild” free.
What are Berks County Tech Support Scams?
If your computer suddenly freezes or gives a high-pitched alarm and then throws up a pop-up displaying a potential data breach and a phone number to call, chances are that you have been targeted in a tech support scam. A tech support scammer tries to play on the fear of a computer owner and hopes that the target will contact the phone number of the "technician" on the pop-up display. Tech scammers make it look like they are representatives of reputable tech companies, such as Apple and Microsoft.
The scammer promises to fix the problem once the target permits remote access to their computer and has made a payment of several hundreds of dollars. A quotation for tune-up software and anti-virus may be included in the cost required of the target. Once the scammer obtains remote access, sensitive information such as passwords, PINs, and banking information are stolen off the hard drive. Spyware or malware may be installed to monitor and regularly steal information from the computer. Alternatively, rogue software may be installed which allows the scammer to control the computer remotely or to display fake security alerts to convince the target to pay for phony products or services.
What are Berks County COVID-19 Scams?
As COVID-19 vaccines rollout expands in Berks County, scammers are already exploiting the residents’ eagerness to get vaccinated. Some of these scammers claim that you can cut in line to get the vaccine by paying a certain amount. Some will even claim the costs are covered by insurance; however, you need to provide additional information to process the shipment. Note that although the CDC permits vaccination providers to charge a nominal fee as an administration fee for giving a shot, the vaccine itself is free. Vaccination providers are instructed to remit administration fees to your insurance, or a Provider Relief Fund if you are uninsured. It is also not possible to pay your way up to an earlier spot in line.
What are Berks County IRS Impersonation Scams?
In an IRS impersonation scam, the perpetrator pretends to be an IRS employee calling a taxpayer in Berks County concerning taxes owed to the IRS. The scammer may use the threat of an arrest or deportation to obtain money from victims by falsely representing that the victims owe certain fees or back taxes. IRS impersonation scammers demand that their targets make payments through iTunes cards, money orders, wire transfers, or prepaid debit cards. Although the caller may know some of your social security number and the caller ID reveals that the call is from a local area, this does not imply legitimacy. Caller IDs can be falsified with spoofing technology. Besides, some of these calls have been found to originate beyond the shores of the United States. The IRS advises Berks County residents to be aware of the tactics used by many of these scammers and lists several indicative signs that a phone call may be an IRS scam on its website. The IRS will not ask you to pay with prepaid debit cards and will first contact you about unpaid taxes by mail, not by phone.
What are Robocalls and Spam Calls?
Robocalls are phone calls initiated through computerized auto-dialers to deliver pre-recorded messages to phone users. If you answer the phone and hear a recorded message instead of a live person, it is a robocall. With the current evolution in technology, businesses and telemarketers now use auto-dialers to send out thousands of phone calls every minute at low costs.
You may get robocalls from political candidates running for office or charities asking for donations. In most cases, those robocalls are legal. However, if the recording is a sales message and you have not consented to receive such calls, the call is illegal and is considered a spam call. Many robocalls are used to fleece unsuspecting phone users.
Scammers use robocalls to initiate spam calls to Berks County residents in order to lure them into releasing personal information that may be later used for fraudulent acts. A phone lookup service can help determine if an incoming call is a robocall.
Other steps to take to stop robocalls include:
- Do not answer calls from unknown numbers
- Hang up on robocalls. If you answer a call and you hear a recorded message, hang up immediately. Do not press any buttons; it will only lead to more unsolicited calls.
- Block unsolicited calls using your default phone's settings. Both Android and iOS devices have settings that allow users to block phone numbers and tag certain numbers as spam.
- Download and install third-party call-blocking applications such as Nomorobo, YouMail, Truecaller, and Hiya.
- Report robocalls to the FTC online or call 1 (888) 382-1222.
- File robocall complaints online with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
- Register your phone number on the Pennsylvania Do Not Call List.
How to Spot and Report Berks County Phone Scams?
Phone scammers are using increasingly devious strategies to get residents to part with sensitive information and their money. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Commission received about 1.25 million fraud complaints in 2020 in which a contact method was identified. In over 30% of such instances, a call was the scammer's way in. While reverse phone searches can help identify a scam call in many cases, advancements in technology now allow callers to falsify the caller IDs on your display, making it more difficult to stop unwanted calls. Hence, being aware of the tricks and deceptive acts utilized by scammers can help you spot phone scams more easily.
Here are some tell-tale signs of phone scams:
- The caller tries to coerce you into providing personal information such as your credit card details, social security number, date of birth, and bank information.
- The caller uses pressure tactics to force you into making a decision immediately. Such decisions often involve providing sensitive information or the transfer of money.
- The caller claims to represent a reputable business or government agency but requests payment through channels such as cryptocurrencies, gift cards, prepaid debit cards, and wire transfers. Such payments are difficult to trace and retrieve.
- The caller threatens or intimidates you to make a payment or give up personal information. Such callers may threaten to revoke your licenses or file an action against you.
- The caller introduces an investment scheme with the promise of a very high return if you invest only a little amount within a short period of time.
While being aware will not stop you from being targeted by phone scammers, using tools that perform reverse phone number lookups will further reduce the chances of being scammed.
You can file complaints in Berks County with any of the following public bodies if you have been contacted by a scammer:
- The Berks County District Attorney: The Berks County DA is the chief law enforcement officer in the county. You can report scams and frauds perpetrated against you by calling the office at (610) 478-6000 or via mail at da@countyofberks.com.
- The Berk's County Sheriff's Office: You can also contact the Berk's County Sheriff's Office if you have been contacted by someone you suspected to be a scammer. Note the telephone number of the caller and document the conversation. You can contact the Sheriff's Office at (610) 478-6240
- The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office: If you have a complaint about an unsolicited call, contact the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) consumer protection line at (800) 441-2555 or file a complaint online.
- The Federal Trade Commission: Through the FTC's National Do Not Call Registry, phone users can reduce unwanted calls by adding their numbers to the list. If you receive unsolicited calls 31 days after adding your number to the registry, they are most likely scam callsThe Federal Communications Commission: The FCC allows you to file a complaint with the Commission online if you believe you have received an illegal call, or if you think you are the victim of a phone scam.