What are Howard County Area Codes?
Howard has the following telephone area codes: 410, 443, and 667. Area code 410 is the original area code, while 443 and 667 are the overlay codes. The 410 area code is a Maryland telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). 410 covers cities in Howard county including Woodbine, West Friendship, Lisbon, Glenwood, Glenelg, Cooksville, Woodstock, Simpsonville, Elkridge, Columbia.
What are the best cell phone plans in Howard county?
To choose the right cell phone coverage provider in Howard County, there are a few things to consider: area coverage, how much data you need, how much call minutes you need, and the customer service response team -for the sake of emergencies. In Maryland state, the only 5G coverage are by AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless. While AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless have 3G/4G LTE coverage in Maryland and, specifically Howard County.
AT & T county takes the prize for the best coverage network in Howard county with 98% coverage of the whole county. T-Mobile covers 94% while Verizon comes third covering 91% of the land area.
In Howard County, the community has adapted to the use of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). VOIP is a technology that allows users to make telephone calls over the internet. This means that users do not have to obtain a local phone number on any of the service providers to make calls. Unfortunately, although the VOIP makes interacting easier, it is now a tool commonly used for phone scams.
In Howard County, the Maryland Public Service Commission (MD PSC) is in charge of regulating local landline telephone service. While the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), regulates virtual telephone services made possible by the Voice Internet Protocol. Both the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission regulate the wireless telephone service.
What are Howard county phone scams?
Howard County police department has reported an increase in the number of phone scams. In a particular case, the phone call scammer impersonated the police sheriff to ask for donations from certain residents for a phony cause. The department promptly put out a statement to forestall hard working members of the county losing their hard-earned funds to the scammer.
In 2017, there were 150,346 complaints of a phone scam in Maryland state. 6619 of these complaint calls came from Howard County. A robocall is an automated message delivered to the receiver through a telephone call in a recorded message, typically on behalf of a telemarketing company. Robocalls are now the main tools used for phone scams. This technology is cheap and easy for them to use, yet nearly impossible to get caught.
Lately, internet scammers making robocalls use a method called spoofing. Spoofing is when the fraudster clones the caller ID to reflect another number in the victim’s area which could be in the victim’s address book. Fraudsters use this to make their calls seem genuine, and to disarm their victims. To detect and respond to robocalls:
- Don’t pick unknown numbers
- If you pick, do not speak to the receiver.
- Don’t press any keys, as robocalls usually ask the receiver to press a key to listen to a fantastic offer.
- Don’t save or call any number dictated in the call
- Don’t divulge financial details
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA) gives citizens of the US the right to register in a do not call list to exclude themselves from automated telemarketing calls. It is important to note though, that this may not stop all unwanted calls. The act gives exemptions to cases such as tax-related matters from the accredited body. Still, the “do not call list” is the first step to preventing unwanted calls.
How Can You Spot and Report Howard County Phone Scams?
To spot and report phone scams in Howard County, it is important to be alert every time. This is because scammers use a variety of methods to deceive unwary victims. they have a number of stories in their arsenal they could sell to you. These are some of them:
- Loan scams: Scammers target people with poor credit records with the offer of a loan while they have to send an upfront fee.
- Lottery scams
- Charity: This is a common scam in Howard County, according to the police. Scammers cook up a cause and sell it to an undetected victim. Always do your due diligence before opening your purse to a charity you’re learning about for the first time.
- Free Trial: Here, they promise you the free trial of a product whereas it is the paid version. The victim keeps getting debited until such can address the source and cancel the subscription.
- Imposter scam: the caller imitates the identity of someone the victim trusts e.g. a government agency, the police, or a relative.
- Immigrant scams: the caller targets immigrants in an area and threatens them about a spurious “problem” about their documents. The fraudster tells the receiver to pay some money to clear these problems.
To detect Howard county phone scammers, it is important to understand their goals. Phone scammers want one of two things: to steal your identity or to obtain money from you on false grounds. Therefore, it is important to have a general rule of not revealing important data to people over the phone. Chances are that you could be speaking to an impersonator. These are some tell-tale signs to identify a scam call/caller:
- The call is unsolicited. Whether they are telling you you have won something or they are telling you that you committed a crime, scam calls are unsolicited from the receiver.
- False promises.
- No bank or government agency will call you over the phone to confirm sensitive information.
- The caller is pressuring you to make a decision NOW. No, you don’t have to send that money now. That is exactly how scammers successfully trap their victims: they create a false sense of urgency.
- You won a lottery you didn’t play in. Scammers like to tap into everyman’s innate greed by informing them they won a prize they didn’t compete for.
- You have to pay a price to win the prize: if the competition the caller claims you have won needs an
To prevent yourself from future Howard county phone scams, there are a few steps to take:
- Register in Maryland’s “do not call” list to block robocalls.
- Register in USA’s national do not call list.
- Do a suspicious phone number lookup
- Do not pick calls from unknown numbers
If you sent a phone scammer money, there are a few things you should do immediately. If you used a gift or prepaid card, call the card company and explain that you just used the card to pay a scammer. Give them the details and ask if they can reverse the transaction. However, if you sent the money through a wire transfer to report the scammer and issue a formal complaint.
To report a scam call in Howard County, there is a Federal help desk the Federal Trade Commission maintains to help victims of scam calls. Alternatively, victims in Howard County can call or visit the Sheriff's office to immediately file a report:
Howard County Police Department
3410 Court House
Dr, Ellicott City, MD 21043
Phone: (410) 313-220