What are Mercer County Area Codes?
The initial three-digit group of numbers that are seen at the beginning of North American telephone numbers are referred to as area codes. Area codes identify the original Numbering Plan Area (NPA) under the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), where the call is placed from. Individuals can use free reverse phone lookup services for area code lookup. The State of New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) regulates telecommunications in the state, including area codes.
Area Code 609
Area code 609 is the only area code that covers Mercer County. It serves the Eastern part of Southern New Jersey and also some parts of central New Jersey. Area code 609 was created as a split from 201 in 1958.
What Are the Best Cell Phone Plans in Mercer County?
Mercer County is served by the four major cell phone carriers in the U.S., including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint, in addition to small Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO.) These cell phone carriers provide relatively good coverage in Mercer County, although some are better than others. Compared to others, Verizon has the best coverage in Mercer County with 92%. T-Mobile is second on the list with 88% coverage, AT&T follows with 82% coverage, and lastly Sprint, with 68% coverage in the county. Note that the quality of network service might drop in densely populated areas. It may also be adversely affected by the weather.
A 2018 National Center of Health Statistics survey shows that an estimate of 38.1% of the New Jersey adult population exclusively used wireless telephones, while 4.9% of New Jersey adults used only landlines. Compared to the preference of the adults, there is a slight difference in the preference of telephony services for minors under the age of 18 in the state. While 41.5% of the minors preferred wireless-only services, only 3.2% used landline telephony services. This proves that the use of cell phones has notably exceeded the use of landlines for telephony services in Mercer County.
The use of VoIP is significantly growing and taking over the telecommunications system, mostly due to its versatility and affordability. VoIP means Voice over Internet Protocol. It uses a broadband Internet connection to enable voice and multimedia communications from the sender to the recipient. VoIP facilitates the use of sophisticated features at low costs compared to traditional phone lines and also provides better voice quality over long-distance calls.
What Are Mercer County Phone Scams?
Mercer County phone scams involve scammers contacting targeted persons to defraud them or steal their personal information through telephony services. Reverse phone number lookup services can be used to expose scammers and block them. However, some scammers duplicate the phone numbers of reputable entities to carry out their criminal acts. In such cases, they use software to copy the reputable entity’s Caller ID and hide their own. This means that the reputable entity’s Caller ID will be shown on the recipient’s phone, instead of the scammer’s Caller ID, making it appear as if the call is legit.
Here are some scams perpetrated in Mercer County:
What are Jury Duty and Warrant Scams?
Jury duty scams involve scammers, contacting residents randomly to tell them that they owe money for missing jury duty over the summer. The callers usually speak aggressively in a bid to sound believable. They then instruct the recipients to meet them at the County Courthouse to pay a specified amount in bail.
For warrant scams, the scammer claims to be a representative of the County Sheriff’s Office or other law enforcement within the county. The scammer then tells the recipient that they have a warrant out for their arrest, which can only be resolved if they make pay certain amounts of money, otherwise, they risk getting arrested. In this case, the scammer mostly instructs that the payment be made via a money card or gift card.
The Mercer County Sheriff’s Office has issued a disclaimer, stating that it will never demand money for jury duty enforcement. It encourages victims of such calls to hang up and report the case to the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office at 609-989-6111 or Mercer County District Attorney's office at 724-662-3800, extension 2287. If unsure of who called, conduct a free reverse phone look up to verify the caller’s identity. There are free reverse phone lookup services that support phone number searches. However, in most cases, the scammers may copy the phone numbers of law enforcement officers. If that occurs, hang up immediately and report the case.
What are Grandparent Scams?
These phone scams target the elderly in Mercer County. In these scams, the scammer claims to be a grandchild of the recipient and pretends to be in dire need of money for bail or hospital bills. These scammers most times claim to be distant relations that reside in foreign countries. Also, in a bid to dissuade the target from contacting other family members to confirm the story, they claim that the situation is urgent and they do not want to inform other family members.
A person that receives such a call should get as many details as they can from the caller and use a reverse phone lookup service to conduct a free phone number lookup by name or phone number lookup by address. With this, they will be able to answer the question “who is this number registered to.” It is also important to contact a family member to at least confirm the identity of the caller.
What are Impersonation Scams?
Impersonation is one of the major tools scammers use to make their schemes appear legit in order to get their targets to fall for their scams. These scammers mostly impersonate reputable entities like representatives of government agencies and legitimate businesses. They aim to get their targets to give them their personal financial details, claiming to need the details for official updates or to process certain government benefits such as grants or scholarships. Examples of government agencies and legitimate business organizations that are mostly impersonated are the IRS, law enforcement agencies, and financial institutions.
Scammers also impersonate trusted family members or friends of their targets and request to borrow huge amounts of money, which they will promise to pay back at a given time. Unfortunately, these scammers disappear and become unreachable after getting the money they requested.
A good reverse phone lookup service can be used to answer the question “who called me.” Note that a scammer may also spoof the Caller ID information of the person they intend to impersonate. In such a case, end the call immediately and directly call the phone number of the person or government official to verify the call.
What are Charity Scams?
Charity scams involve scammers deceiving county residents by soliciting donations for nonexistent charitable organizations. The aim is to get as many donations as they can, and then embezzle the money they get. Charity scams are usually on the rise after natural disasters that adversely affect certain citizens. Note that some scammers may also claim to be representatives of legitimate charity organizations. Make sure you directly reach out to the organization to confirm if the caller is truly associated with them. To be on the safer side, you may make your donation directly to the charitable organization. If you receive any call of such nature, verify the caller’s identity by using websites that offer reverse phone lookup free. Here, you can also conduct a phone number search.
What are Robocalls and Spam Calls?
Robocalls are programmed telephone calls that deliver pre-recorded messages, mostly on behalf of political parties, telemarketing companies, or non-profit organizations. Robocalls often give prompts for the recipients to press certain numbers to be transferred to live-agents or to stop receiving such calls. Despite the legitimacy of robocalls, some scammers use them to facilitate their criminal schemes and defraud their targets. Some reverse number lookup services can be used to identify and block robocalls.
Spam calls are unwanted calls that do not have direct relevance to the persons receiving them. These reverse number lookup services can also help notify you of suspicious incoming spam calls and give you the option of blocking them.
Some ways to avoid falling victim to robocalls scams are:
- Terminate the call as soon as you notice that you have picked a robocall. Also, do not follow any prompts given, because it may be a bait to identify active numbers and target them with more calls.
- Activate the call blocking app that comes with your phone to filter out spam calls and if your phone does not have one, download a third-party app that supports free phone number lookup
- Use the FTC’s online complaint assistant to report illegal robocalls or call 1-888-382-1222.
- Include your telephone number on the National Do Not Call Registry to limit robocalls and other unsolicited sales calls from telemarketers. When you include your number on the registry, you will be able to easily spot illegal robocalls and potential phone scams.
The FTC also provides residents with detailed information on how to block unwanted calls.
How to Spot and Report Mercer County Phone Scams?
Scammers usually develop new systems of operation to perpetrate their schemes. This is why Mercer County residents must stay vigilant and up-to-date on the schemes of scammers. Here are some ways to spot a scam and avoid falling victim to it:
- The caller tells you to share your sensitive personal information or make a payment over the phone - End the call immediately this occurs. If the caller claims to be from a legitimate business or government agency, directly reach out to the legitimate entity after hanging up to ascertain the authenticity of the call. Check the official website of the legitimate entity to get the right phone number.
- You receive persistent unwanted calls from an unfamiliar number - A reverse phone number lookup service can be used to conduct a phone number search, which would identify the caller. This service can also be used to block the caller’s phone number. For other options, contact your phone carrier about call blocking.
- The caller tries to get you to sign up for a business or investment offer that sounds too good to be true - Hang up immediately. Such an offer is usually criminal and you may end up being swindled. Before you accept any offer, carefully investigate the offer and the person that introduced the offer.
- The caller requests for upfront payments before claiming a reward - Any form of reward, prize, grant, sweepstake, or lottery that requires you to first make payment is most likely a scam. Hang up immediately and do not share your financial information with the caller, neither make any form of payment. Anyone requesting that you make payments via wire transfers, reloadable debit cards, or gift cards may be a scammer. Such payment methods are difficult to track and money paid cannot be refunded
- You are told to conceal the details of a call or transaction - End the call immediately and tell trusted family members or friends about it to get their opinion.
Individuals can use good reverse phone lookup services to identify scammers. Also, government institutions in Mercer County provide trending information on ways to spot scams and report them.
Mercer County Sheriff’s Office - can be contacted to report scams Mercer County Sheriff's Office at 609-989-6111.
The County Prosecutor’s Office of the Mercer County District Attorney's Office - can be contacted at 724-662-3800, extension 2287 to report crimes. This also releases information on trending scams through its news platform.
New Jersey Department of Law & Public Safety - Provides residents with regular Scam Alerts to keep them informed on the updated schemes of scammers in the state. Victims of scams may also file complaints.
Federal Trade Commission - Provides information on how to identify common phone scams and avoid robocalls. The FTC also provides the National Do Not Call Registry, which helps reduce unsolicited sales calls that sometimes may have been placed by scammers. Residents can report phone scams or suspicious calls through the FTC’s online consumer complaint assistant.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - Guides residents on how to identify Caller ID spoofing and enable call blocking. The FCC also partners with telephone carriers to improve caller authentication technology, thus putting an end to illegal caller ID spoofing. Residents can report any form of illegal caller ID spoofing and other phone scams to the FCC by filling out the online complaint form.