What are Pickens County Area Codes?
Area codes are the strings of the first three digits of ten-digit North American Numbering Plan (NANP) phone numbers. Pickens County currently has one area code (864). It identifies the county's telephone service territory, also known as the Numbering Plan Area (NPA). The South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS) manages Pickens County area codes and administers those in the other parts of the state.
Area Code 864
Area code 864 is a South Carolina telephone code in the NANP. Split from the 803 NPA in 1995, area code 864 serves pockets of counties in the state, including Pickens County. The major communities in Pickens County under this area code include Pickens, Clemson, Central, and Liberty.
What are the Best Cell Phone Plans in Pickens County?
The four national carriers have a presence in South Carolina. They provide the best cell phone services in Pickens County, and each has varying degrees of coverage across the communities in the county. In the City of Pickens, Verizon provides network coverage of 96%, while T-Mobile has a 78% spread of the city. AT&T and Sprint do not have notable network penetration in the City of Pickens. However, some Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) also offer telephone services to residents and serve neighborhoods outside the reach of the major carriers. MVNOs provide network services at relatively affordable rates.
As gathered by a 2018 CDC survey report, cell phones have earned preference among South Carolina residents as the sole means of telecommunications. The survey was conducted to figure out household telephone status in the United States. In South Carolina, an estimated 55.7% of the adult population had adopted cell phones as their only telephony devices. Online 4.9% of still used landline phones exclusively. That same year, almost 70.0% of the state children demographic (under 18) had adopted wireless-only telephony services, while 1.9% still used landline phones.
Pickens County residents can leverage Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology for more affordable telephony services. VoIP offers an alternative telephony service to traditional phone services. It routes communication over IP networks, such as broadband internet, and supports all types of telephony services.
What are Pickens County Phone Scams?
Pickens County phone scams are fraudulent acts committed against county residents using telephony services such as live phone calls, text messages, and robocalls. Fraudsters commit phone scams to make money off unsuspecting residents illegally and sometimes involve obtaining confidential information unjustly for identity and financial theft. Phone scammers employ various tricks and claim identities other than their own when preying on targets. Whichever tactic is employed, phone scams aim to extort targets. They often spoof targets’ Caller IDs to appear as contacting them in their capacity as representatives of veritable entities. Uninformed residents usually fall victim to phone spoofing scams. However, reverse phone lookup applications can help determine if inbound calls are spoofed or not.
The South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs (SCDCA) is the primary consumer protection agency in the state. It provides residents with information on phone scams to keep them abreast of the current scam tricks and ways to avoid them. The SCDCA encourages residents to sign up for the latest news from the Department, many of which bothers on phone scams to enable them to remain updated and avoid scams. The prevalent phone scams in Pickens County include:
What are Pickens County FBI Impersonation Scams?
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warns residents about scams in which fraudsters identify themselves as the Bureau's agents. These scammers spoof FBI official phone numbers to fool Pickens County residents in a bid to cheat them out of their money and obtain personal information. Such information is often confidential, and scammers commit identity and financial theft with them. These scams are just old scams with new twists. Phone number lookup applications can help residents ascertain whether the callers' phone numbers are registered to the FBI or any of their agents. In a prevalent version of the scam, the callers will inform targeted residents that their social security numbers (SSNs) were compromised and used to open bank accounts and purchase landed properties. They will advise against leaving money in their bank accounts to avoid getting fleeced. The fraudsters then warn them to withdraw all the savings in their bank accounts and purchase multiple gift cards. Targets are told to send the card details to them for safekeeping and promise to deposit the equivalent amounts in their bank accounts once the persons using their SSNs illegally are arrested and issues resolved.
It is crucial to state that the FBI will never solicit money for any reason, especially not via irregular payment channels. If you receive this type of call, hang up immediately and make sure to verify the caller's claims by contacting the FBI. Residents who get ripped off by FBI impersonation scams can file complaints online with the Internet Crime Complaint Center of the Bureau. A reverse phone lookup application can help you identify a spoofed phone call and avoid these scams.
What are Pickens County Social Security Scams?
These scams are prevalent in the United States, and Pickens County is not an exception. In social security scams, fraudsters pretend to be Social Security Administration (SSA) employees and trick their targets into parting with money and confidential information. These scams come in different forms. The fraudsters may call and claim there are issues with targets' social security accounts and ask them to confirm their SSNs for supposed verifications. They often get Pickens County residents to provide this information by promising to fix the issues. Note that the SSA has information about your social security number on file and will not request any confirmation over the phone. In a popular version of these scams, phone scammers will inform their targets that their SSNs were observed to be linked to some crimes and offer to help clear their names from such cases at a fee. They usually instruct them to make such payment via wire transfers and gift cards. Targets who try to protest the callers' claims are threatened with arrest and other punitive actions to coerce payment from them.
The SSA advises residents never to share personal information or pay anyone over the phone. You can avoid falling victim to social security scams if you are used to running unknown callers' phone numbers through applications that offer reverse phone number lookup services. Reverse phone lookup services help identify persons registered to unknown phone numbers. The SSA also warns that its employees will never solicit money or request confidential information from anyone over the phone. If you receive such calls, hang up and report them to the Office of the Inspector General, SSA, on 1 (800) 269-0271.
What are Pickens County IRS Scams?
Like some other types of phone scams, IRS scams also have many variants. Most IRS scams are targeted towards taxpayers to extort them of their money or steal confidential information. Scammers engaging in IRS scams usually spoof the official phone numbers of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). They do this to establish trust with targets while impersonating the agency's employees. The Pickens County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) warns residents to beware of IRS scams to avoid losing hard-earned savings to scammers' malicious attempts. If you suspect that a phone call on tax-related matters is fraudulent, reverse phone number lookup services can help you figure out who called and avoid scams.
The commonly reported version of the IRS scams in Pickens County involves callers accusing unsuspecting residents of having delinquent taxes. They inform them of impending arrest if they fail to make immediate payments. These fraudsters usually speak with authority and may mention names and badge numbers of legitimate IRS agents to appear credible before their targets. If they observe that marks are unshaken by their accusations and hesitant to pay, scammers will threaten to bring in law enforcement to get them to comply. Their preferred payment methods include wire transfers, bitcoins, and gift cards. Picken County residents should know that the IRS does not operate in this manner and will never advise these payment channels for tax collections. If anyone poses as an IRS agent in an unsolicited phone call and requests payment or threatens you with arrest, hang up immediately to verify their claims from the IRS. Phone number lookup can also help you retrieve identifying information on such a caller. Generally, the IRS communicates unpaid taxes to taxpayers by mail and hardly contacts defaulters via phone.
What are Pickens County Grandparent Scams?
The grandparent scams are also known as emergency scams because the fraudsters engaging in the scheme often claim one emergency or the other that needs fixing. The scammers often claim to be out of town when contacting targeted Pickens County residents. They may claim they were involved in road crashes where they ran over innocent people and need money to settle their hospital bills. In other instances, they say they were arrested but cannot bond out of jail for lack of money and then appeal to targets to assist them urgently. These scams are typically targeted at senior residents and thrive on the love they have for their family members. Fraudsters call and trick elderly Pickens County residents into believing their grandchildren or relatives are in danger or emergencies that may get out of order if not promptly given due attention. They inform targets that the availability of money will help them contain such situations. Their most preferred payment channels include wire transfers and gift cards. These scammers usually sound convincing, and in many reported incidents, the victims sent money without further questioning the callers.
Applications offering reverse phone lookup free services can help anyone who receives such a call to retrieve valuable information on the caller. The result of the phone number search will help them ascertain if the suspicious caller is a family member indeed. The Pickens County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) warns county residents to disregard calls that bear this type of claim, especially if such phone calls came from unknown phone numbers. They advise residents who get such phone calls to contact the supposed grandchildren or loved ones on their familiar phone numbers to verify claims. Finding out the supposed callers' whereabouts from other relatives can also save the day.
What are Robocalls and Spam Calls?
Robocalls deliver recorded information to selected phone numbers in sequence using autodialers. Although designed for legitimate purposes, robocalls are now scammers' tools in most phone scam schemes. Phone scammers usually manipulate robocalls to mask their real identities or take on entirely new ones when preying on targets in Pickens County. Fraudsters use robocalls to identify phone numbers that are in active use by residents. They usually target active phone users for future phone scams. Such robocalls are unwanted and illegal and are known as spam calls. However, some applications offer reverse phone lookup services to determine if incoming calls from unknown phone numbers are robocalls or not.
Some of the best ways to reduce robocall disturbances and avoid robocall scams are:
- Ignore calls from phone numbers you do not recognize. If you do answer and discover it is a robocall, hang up immediately.
- Report any identified robocall and spam numbers to your phone company and ask them to block such phone numbers from reaching you subsequently. Some third-party mobile applications also offer call-blocking services for free.
- Join the league of residents who have stopped receiving legitimate telemarketing calls by enrolling your phone number in the National DNC Registry. Once your phone number is listed, the chances are that subsequent unsolicited calls you receive are potential scam calls.
- Report robocalls abuse online to the Federal Trade Commission or call 1 (888) 382-1222.
How Can You Spot and Report Pickens County Phone Scams?
Generally, phone scammers will stop at nothing to steal money and obtain information from Pickens County residents. They may offer to help their targets or employ threats to get them to yield to their demands. The ability to identify the warning signs of phone scams is paramount for anyone who wants to avoid them in Pickens County. Searching the reverse phone number lookup of incoming calls from unknown phone numbers is an excellent way of identifying potential scams. The following are some warning signs of phone scams:
- The caller claims you were selected as a winner in a lottery in which you never participated and requests that you pay some fees to claim your prize. In reality, lottery companies do not contact winners over the phone.
- Scammers pose as employees of government agencies and scare you into making payment by threatening arrest or jail. Legitimate government employees do not use threats on residents over the phone.
- Phone scammers usually specify the payment method they want and insist on immediate payments. They favor wire transfers, gift cards, cash, and cryptocurrencies.
- Scammers pretend to be government agencies and request that you share confidential information such as the social security number. Government agencies do not solicit such over the phone.
Several government agencies protect Pickens County residents from falling victim to phone scams and encourage victims to report their encounters. These agencies include:
Internal Revenue Service - The IRS enjoins residents who encounter tax-related phone scams to file complaints with the TIGTA. Pickens County residents can leverage the IRS scam alerts to fortify themselves against tax scams.
Pickens County Sheriff's Office - The PCSO investigates cases of phone scams in Pickens County. It encourages residents who are phone scam victims to file complaints with the agency on (864) 898-5500. To file an in-person report, you can visit the PCSO at 216 C. David Stone Rd., Pickens, SC 29671.
South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs - The SCDCA educates residents on phone scams and periodically hosts scam alerts on its website. Victimized Pickens County residents can file phone scam reports online with the SCDCA. They, however, must register for an account to be able to file such complaints. Alternatively, the SCDCA can be contacted at (803) 734-4200.
Federal Trade Commission - The FTC wants residents to enlist their phone numbers in the National Do Not Call Registry to avoid robocall scams. Residents who are phone scam victims can file complaints with the FTC online or call 1 (888) 382-1222.