What are Scott County Area Codes?
An area code is a group of three numbers that appears before a regular telephone number to indicate the call’s location. Area codes represent specific geographical areas under the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). All geographical areas in North America are assigned at least one Numbering Plan Area (NPA), but certain areas have more than one area code. Individuals can conduct area code lookups using reverse cell phone lookup services to identify the geographical areas that specific area codes represent.
Only one area code covers Scott County, which is:
Area Code 563
Area code 563 covers northeastern Iowa. It became active on March 25, 2001, and was created from area code 319. Area code 563 serves Davenport, Bettendorf, Donahue, Le Claire, Dixon, Blue Grass, Eldridge, Princeton, Long Grove, etc.
What are the Best Cell Phone Plans in Scott County?
The four best cell phone carriers in Scott County are Verizon, AT&T, iWireless, and Sprint. These four phone carriers provide relatively good coverage in Scott County. Verizon has the best coverage with 90%, AT&T follows with 80%, and iWireless with 74%. Sprint has the least coverage with 70%. These phone carrier networks provide good data quality in the county. However, in cases of adverse weather conditions, the network quality may be affected negatively.
The 2018 National Center of Health Statistics survey reports that 61.3% of the Iowa adult population only used wireless telephones, while 3.8% of the adults in Iowa exclusively used landlines as their preferred telephony service option. Conversely, 73.1% of minors in Iowa used only wireless telephone services, while only 1.6% used only landlines. The telephone status survey shows that both adults and minors in Iowa prefer to use wireless telephones instead of landlines. The percentage gap between the telephone service choice of the Iowa residents for wireless telephones is more pronounced with the minors than the adults.
Voice over Internet Protocol, known as VoIP, is widely used by businesses in Scott County due to its reliability, flexibility, and affordability. Residents also use VoIP, although the plans available to them may have limited features. Compared to other telephony services, VoIP offers excellent services required for the effective running of any business. Some of these services include auto line attendants, conference calling, advanced call management, name dialing, anonymous calling, call routing, voicemail/ call forwarding, call analytics, call rejection, etc. In addition, it supports long-distance calls at low costs, provided the users at both ends have stable high-speed networks.
What are Scott County Phone Scams?
Scott County phone scams are criminal activities targeting residents at all levels. These scams are carried out over telephone conversations and aim to defraud residents of their hard-earned money and steal their personal information. In most cases, personal information gotten from residents is used for identity fraud, whereby they commit offenses with the residents’ identities, hence implicating them. Phone scammers usually exploit technological advancements in telecommunications and impersonate reputable entities that their targets are familiar with. Once they gain the trust of these residents, they perpetrate criminal activities, causing the victims serious problems. Technological advancements scammers mainly exploit are robocalls and Caller ID spoofing. They use Caller ID spoofing to hide their real phone numbers and spoof the Caller IDs of persons they wish to impersonate. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has begun creating awareness on illegal Caller ID spoofing and enlightening people on how to recognize and block unwanted calls. The Iowa Attorney General also educates people on Caller ID spoofing.
Residents can stand against these scams and avoid falling victim by always conducting phone number lookups using services that support reverse phone lookup free. These services help identify potential scam calls by unveiling the actual identities of the callers.
Phone scams that are common in Scott County include:
What are Scott County IRS Scams?
In IRS scams, fraudsters pose as Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees and call residents concerning owed back taxes. These scammers typically hide their phone numbers and spoof the Caller IDs of legitimate IRS officials. Threatening residents with arrest, license revocation, deportation, legal action, etc., they request payments to settle owed back taxes. The scammers then demand immediate payment via gift cards, wire transfers, cryptocurrency, or other unconventional payment methods. They aim to defraud residents by causing them to make payments or share their personal information out of fear. These scams mostly occur during tax seasons. The IRS warns residents to be careful of such calls as they would never call residents out of the blue. The IRS also never requests payment over the phone. Residents should not make any payment to imposters over the phone. They should also not disclose any financial and personal information, except on the verified IRS official website.
If you are unsure whether you owe the IRS or not, call the IRS directly on 800-829-1040 to find out. You may use a reverse cell phone lookup to perform a phone number lookup to identify callers. In addition, familiarize yourself with tips on how to know when it is the IRS calling. Report IRS scams by completing the IRS impersonation scam reporting of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) or call 1-800-366-4484.
What are Scott County Arrest Warrant Scams?
Arrest warrant scams target everyone, both young and old. The scammers here impersonate residents and deputies from the Scott County Sheriff’s Office employees. They tell recipients that they have warrants for their arrest, and they will need to pay certain fees in gift cards to avoid arrest. Sex offenders are the most hit by these scams because their personal information is easily accessible on public websites, making it easier to target them. The Scott County Sheriff’s Office creates awareness of these scams, telling residents that the office will never contact residents to tell them to make such payments for warrants over the phone. Persons that receive such calls should hang up and contact the Scott County Sheriff’s Office to report.
In some cases, these scammers may use Caller ID spoofing to make the calls appear like Sheriff’s Office deputies’ real Caller IDs. Residents can conduct phone number searches to determine if the calls are really from the County Sheriff’s Office.
What are Scott County Charity Scams?
Fraudsters take advantage of unfortunate events that affect county residents, especially those that are less privileged. These fraudsters claim to be officials of reputable charitable organizations or charitable organizations that do not actually exist. They then make emotional solicitations, appealing for funds from benevolent residents. These fraudsters sometimes present documents or pictures to support their solicitations and make them appear genuine in these cases. Residents should be careful not to fall victim to these scams because the aim is to defraud them.
Before donating to any charitable organization, be sure to verify the caller’s identity by performing reverse phone number lookups to identify who called. Also, confirm the charitable organization’s authenticity to be sure that the organization is legitimate. It is safer to donate to only verified charitable organizations and not unknown callers.
What are Scott County Iowa Homeland Security and FEMA Scams?
Here, scammers pose as representatives of the Homeland Security or Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). These scammers then request residents’ Social Security numbers, bank account details, or other sensitive information. Residents should ignore such calls, as giving out such information can lead to identity theft.
Homeland Security and FEMA will never request your personal information. You can conduct suspicious phone number lookups with free reverse phone lookup tools to answer the question, “who called me?.”
What are Robocalls and Spam Calls?
Pre-recorded calls that are programmed to transmit messages in bulk using autodialers are called robocalls. Robocalls aim to deliver messages to a target audience. Some robocalls prompt the recipients to be transferred to live agents or opt out of the calls. Robocalls are mostly sent by public bodies, telemarketers, and nonprofit organizations to disseminate emergency announcements and create awareness on various issues. Scammers have, however, started taking advantage of robocalls to send scam messages to people. Due to this, the FCC created the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991 to regulate robocalls. The Act provides that robocalls must first obtain prior consent before sending robocalls to recipients. The FCC considers any robocalls sent without the recipients’ consent illegal, and they can be reported.
Irrespective of restriction on robocalls, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) authorizes the following robocalls, and they can be sent even without recipients’ permission:
- Debt collection robocalls
- Robocalls for political campaigns
- Robocalls by charitable organizations
- Exclusively informational robocalls
- Robocalls by legitimate health institutions
Typically, scammers prefer to use robocalls due to their anonymity, affordability, and the fact that they require minimal or no human effort. However, scammers use robocalls for advertising fake and nonexistent products and services or stealing residents’ personal information and money. Illegal robocalls are just like spam calls. Spam calls are unwanted calls sent en masse to several persons and usually contain irrelevant messages that aim to advertise or proselytize without passing across any message directly relevant to the recipients.
Take these precautions to avoid illegal robocalls and spam calls:
- Refrain from taking unwanted calls. Unwanted calls sometimes end up being illegal robocalls or spam calls. If you unknowingly pick, terminate the call immediately and do not give out any personal information.
- Block suspicious phone numbers that robocall you. Contact your phone network providers for call-blocking options.
- Do not respond to prompts given during robocalls.
- Register your phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry to restrict robocalls. Your phone number becomes active after 31 days of registration, and you can report the robocalls you receive.
- Report robocalls that you receive without prior consent to the FTC through the online complaint assistant portal or call 1-888-382-1222 to report.
How to Spot and Report Scott County Phone Scams?
Scott County residents must be wary of phone scams and stay alert so as not to fall victim. Some red flags of phone scams are:
- The caller threatens you with arrest, license revocation, deportation, and other serious consequences while requesting money or personal information. Individuals should not share their personal information, such as their social security numbers, mothers’ maiden names, credit card numbers, passwords, etc.
- The caller pressurizes the recipient, scaring them so that they act in the spur of the moment.
- The caller solicits funds from the recipient, using emotional blackmail and claims that cannot be verifiable.
- The caller demands payment specifically by unconventional means like via wire transfers, bitcoins, cash, gift cards, prepaid cards. Tracing and retrieving such payment is usually difficult and most likely impossible.
- The caller withholds their identities from recipients and demands that the details of the call be kept confidential.
- The caller demands payment before you are awarded winnings.
- The caller claims to want to help you retrieve the money you lost to a scam for a fee.
- The caller tries to convince you to engage in an investment or business opportunity that is too good to be true.
When you receive unwanted calls or any suspicious call, use reverse phone look up services to do number lookups to identify scam callers and spoofed Caller IDs. Persons that notice any of these red flags during calls can report them to these government agencies:
Scott County Sheriff’s Office - Report scams and any suspicious calls to the Sheriff at:
Scott County Courthouse
400 W. 4th Street
Davenport, IA 52801-1104
Phone: 563-326-8625
Fax: 563-326-8689
The office is accessible Monday to Friday, between 8:00am and 4:30pm, but if you fall victim to a scam that requires immediate attention, call 911.
Iowa Department of Justice’s Office of the Attorney General - Phone scams can be reported by calling 515-281-5926. Persons that reside around Des Moines Metro Area can call 888-777-4590 to report. Victims may also report online by submitting online consumer complaints. The platform allows victims to attach supporting documents, such as correspondence, advertisements, contracts, proof of payment, etc. To report via mail, download and complete the printable complaint form. The completed form should be mailed to the Office of the Attorney General of Iowa, Consumer Protection Division, Hoover State Office Building at:
1305 E. Walnut Street
Des Moines, Iowa 50319-0106.
Federal Communications Commission - Residents that fall victim to Caller ID spoofing scams, illegal robocalls, and other phone scams can report to the FCC by completing the online complaint form.
Federal Bureau of Investigation - Residents that fall victim to any form of fraud can report to (202) 324-3000.
Federal Trade Commission - Persons that fall victim to identity theft, illegal Caller ID spoofing, illegal robocalls, unwanted telemarketing, texts, or spam calls, and other scams can report using the FTC’s online consumer complaint assistant. Reports can also be made by calling 877-FTC-HELP or 877-ID-THEFT.