What are Ocean County Area Codes?
Area codes are the block of three-digit numeric codes, established by the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), that start telephone numbers in North America. The NANP created area codes to identify the different numbering plan areas (NPAs) into which it divided regional service territories under its purview. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities implements and manages area codes in Ocean County.
Currently, four area codes cover Ocean County. These area codes also serve the surrounding counties in central New Jersey and along the Jersey Shore.
Area Code 609
Area code 609 is a telephone area code in the NANP that serves central and southeastern parts of New Jersey, including Ocean County. Initially created in a split of the 201 NPA in 1958, the 609 NPA was further divided to its current size in 1998. Ocean County municipalities served by this area codes include Barnegat, Beachwood, Beach Haven, Lacey, Little Egg Harbor, Ocean Town, Plumsted, Stafford, and Tuckerton.
Area Code 640
Area code 640 is the telephone code in the NANP that overlays the 609 NPA. It was activated in 2018.
Area Code 732
Area code 732 is a NANP telephone area code covering central New Jersey, including the northern parts of Ocean County on the Jersey shore. A split of the 908 NPA created this NPA in 1997. Municipalities in Ocean County served by this area code include Berkeley, Brick, Jackson, Lakewood, Manchester, Point Pleasant, Point Pleasant Beach, and Toms River.
Area Code 848
Area code 848 is the NANP telephone overlay code for the 732 NPA. It became active in 2001.
What are the Best Cell Phone Plans in Ocean County?
A 2018 National Health Interview Survey reported that about 38.1% of adults (over 18) in New Jersey households only used wireless telecommunications services. In contrast, only about 4.9% of this demographic used landline-only telephony services. Furthermore, among minors in the state, 41.5% used wireless-only telephony services while just about 3.2% used only landlines. This report indicates the shift from landline to wireless phone services among the residents of Ocean County.
Cell phone coverage from all the major phone carriers is exceptional in New Jersey. All four major carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint) claim to cover over 90% of the state. Coverage is, however, spotty in rural areas, between buildings, and along sections of the shoreline. The exceptional services provided by the major carriers allow MVNOs to build on their network infrastructure to offer excellent phone services. Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) are smaller prepaid carriers that provide telephony services, as an alternative to the major networks, at cheaper rates.
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services are available to Ocean County residents from several providers. VoIP services typically utilize broadband internet connections to provide telephony services that are more efficient, flexible, and cheaper than traditional telephone services.
What are Ocean County Phone Scams?
These are phone scams committed against residents of Ocean County. Phone scams are schemes carried out with telephony services with the aim of obtaining money or confidential information fraudulently.
The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office (OCPO) issues scams warnings and provides resources to assist county residents targeted by scammers. County residents can contact the OCPO on (732) 929-2027. The Ocean County Department of Consumer Affairs also provides resources to protect residents from scams. Victims of scams can file reports with their local police departments, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office, or the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. Some common scams in Ocean County include:
What are IRS scams?
These scams are most prevalent between January and April when residents file their tax returns and expect correspondence from the IRS. Scammers contact their targets impersonating IRS agents and inform them that they have filed tax liens against the targets. Usually, they spoof caller IDs to show area codes from D.C, Virginia, or Maryland. They tell their victims to make immediate payments, or they will be arrested and charged, and request payments via money transfers and gift cards.
While this approach might seem legitimate if you have never been contacted by the IRS before, it is a scam. The IRS has a process for informing residents about tax issues, and mail notifications are the first point of contact. The IRS will not contact you by phone call without sending multiple mail notices. The IRS will not insist on immediate payments because taxpayers are allowed by law to appeal any amounts listed as tax debts. Payment channels such as wire transfers and gift cards cannot be used to pay taxes, and the IRS does not send local police to make arrests. You can check if the IRS has filed a federal lien against you by contacting the Ocean County Clerk. Residents who receive these phone calls should hang up and report them to the Treasury Inspector General on 1 (800) 366-4484 or their local police departments. Reverse phone searches can shed some light on the phone numbers used for these scams.
What are Jury Duty Scams?
Scammers impersonate deputies of the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office or court officers when contacting residents. They inform these targets that they failed to report for scheduled jury duty and are subject to fine and jail time. They tell the victims to pay fines by providing their credit card information or come to the County courthouse to pay cash. Scammers threaten those who fail to pay these fines with arrest warrants from the Sheriff’s Office.
The Ocean County Sheriff’s Office urges residents never to give out credit card details or other financial information over unsolicited phone calls. The Sheriff’s Office will never call residents to inform them of warrants nor ask for payments to rescind any outstanding warrants. If you receive a phone call of this nature, do not give out your information or meet the caller. Hang up and report the call to the Sheriff’s Office on (732) 929-2044 or your local police department. Potential jurors in Ocean County can call (732) 506-5060 to verify whether they were summoned to jury duty. A phone number lookup conducted on the phone number used for the call may shed some information on the caller’s identity.
What are Utility Scams?
Scammers contact county residents, either by live call or robocall, impersonating representatives of utility companies such as Jersey Central Power & Light. The callers inform their targets that they have outstanding and overdue bills that need to be paid off immediately. Failure to do so will lead to cutting off power or gas in their homes. The scammers ask for credit card information or instruct the victims to buy gift cards or prepaid debit cards and read them the numbers.
Authorities urge county residents who receive these calls to hang immediately. Residents should call their utility providers during business hours, if they are concerned, and make enquiries. Utility companies are required by law to send multiple delinquency mail notices to their subscribers before disconnecting services. If you have not received such notices or have paid your bills, ignore the callers and report the calls to your local police department. Do not give out account information to unknown persons on unsolicited calls and never purchase gift cards and provide the numbers over the phone. Reverse phone lookup services can identify if such phone calls are from legitimate utility providers.
What are Social Security Scams?
Scammers contact county residents and inform them that the Social Security Administration (SSA) has suspended their Social Security Numbers (SSNs) for fraudulent activities. The con artists, claiming to be federal agents, tell the residents that their investigations show they had been victims of identity theft. They specifically say the targets’ SSNs were used for malicious purposes and are compromised. The agents claim the targets’ accounts were used to make purchases and that their savings will be seized. They then provide phone numbers for the targets to call to resolve the issues. Persons who call these phone numbers are told to withdraw all their savings, transfer them to multiple gift cards, and provide them with the card numbers. The scammers tell the targets that new SSNs will be issued the next day, along with checks for the transferred funds. Going along with the callers’ demands leads to financial losses.
No SSA employee or federal agent will call residents and request gift cards or personal banking information for any reason. The SSA does not randomly issue new SSNs, and recipients must satisfy stringent requirements and make applications in person. If you receive such calls, hang up and report them to the Office of the Inspector General on 1 (800) 269-0271. Alternatively, you can report them to your local police department. A phone number search application can identify if such a call is from the SSA or a legitimate law enforcement agency.
What are Robocalls and Spam Calls?
Robocalls are automated telephone calls that deliver pre-recorded messages. Telemarketers, political campaigns, and organizations making public service announcements use robocalls to reach large audiences with minimal human contact. For this reason and the ability to deliver messages anonymously, scammers have co-opted robocalls for their activities. Scammers can change robocalls numbers to hide their identities and even spoof the official numbers of reputable organizations when contacting their targets.
Because residents are used to receiving robocalls from legitimate entities, they are more receptive to them than live calls from random strangers. This makes it easier for scammers to run their schemes. The best options for dealing with robocalls include:
- End the call once you identify it as a robocall. Dismiss any messages prompting you to press a number to connect to live operators or remove yourself from the robocall’s list. Following such prompts only confirms you as a live caller and sets up more robocalls.
- Register your phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry. Once your number has been on this list for 31 days, it is restricted from unwanted telephone solicitations. If you are still beset by robocalls after this period, they are most likely scam calls.
- Report illegal robocall numbers with the FTC online complaint assistant or call 1 (888) 382-1222.
- Online services offering phone number lookups free can verify robocall numbers. Use these services to identify and block them.
- Use call-blocking tools available from phone manufacturers and network service providers to identify and block spam callers.
The FTC website provides tips for blocking unwanted calls on any platform.
How to Spot and Report Ocean County Phone Scams?
The best defenses against phone scams are education and awareness. Being able to spot the tell-tale signs of scams is the most reliable means of avoiding scammers as they continually adapt their tactics. Online applications can perform phone number lookups on suspicious phone numbers and answer the question: “who is this number registered to?” These tools can return useful identifying details that come in handy when reporting phone scams. These tools perform phone number searches by name, number, and address and come in free and paid versions.
Some indicators that an unknown caller is running a scam include:
- The caller claims to be law enforcement or government agents and uses threats to get you to comply with their requests. Real law enforcement and government agents will not use threats over the phone.
- The caller insists on payment via irregular channels such as prepaid debit cards, gift cards, and money transfers. It is complicated tracing funds sent through these channels; hence they are favored by scammers.
- The caller offers attractive business investment opportunities but can not provide satisfactory answers to any questions and dissuades you from seeking opinions from third parties.
- The caller claims you won a certain prize but asks for an upfront payment to send it to you. Prizes advertised as free but requiring upfront payments to receive are usually scams.
- The caller claims to represent a reputable organization and makes repeated requests for personal and financial information. Representatives of legitimate organizations will not solicit personal information of their customers on random phone calls.
Residents of Ocean County can contact any the following agencies for assistance in dealing with phone scams:
The Office of the Ocean County Prosecutor (OCPO) - The OCPO investigates crimes against county residents and prosecutes the perpetrators. Residents can contact the OCPO on (732) 929-2027 or visit the office at 119 Hooper Avenue, Toms River, NJ 08753.
The Ocean County Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) - The DCA receives consumer complaints and investigates violations of the Consumer Fraud Act of New Jersey. Residents can contact the DCA on (732) 929-2105 or visit the office at 1027 Hooper Avenue, Toms River, NJ 08754-2191.
Local Law Enforcement - Law enforcement agencies such as the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office and municipal police departments receive complaints about scams from residents in their jurisdictions. Contact your local law enforcement agency to file reports on scams.
The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs - The Office of Consumer Protection (OCP) of the DCA enforces the state consumer fraud act and its regulations. Residents can contact the OCP for assistance on (973) 504-6200 or by email.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) - The FTC is responsible for protecting residents from deceptive and fraudulent practices. It provides resources such as the National Do Not Call Registry and call-blocking tips to facilitate this. Victims can file complaints about illegal robocalls and other phone scams using the online complaint assistant or call 1 (888) 382-1222.