What are the Best Cell Phone Plans in Bibb County?
There is only one area code serving the residents of Bibb County. This is area code 478. An area code is a numeric designation for a numbering plan area (NPA). Following the creation of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) in 1947, area codes and NPAs were introduced to simplify call routing and switching across North American telephone networks. At the inception of the NANP, 86 area codes were created in the country and that number has grown as NPAs have split and been overlaid to accommodate new phone users. Every 10-digit US phone number includes an area code to signify where it was allocated. The area code is easily recognized as the first three digits.
Area Code 478
Created in a three-way split of area code 912, area code 478 came into service in 2001 alongside area code 229. It covers Macon and the central part of Georgia. Communities in Bibb County covered by area code 478 include Lizella and Macon.
Like the rest of the state, most of the residents of Bibb County are likely to only use wireless phones for telecommunication than landline phones. In a 2018 wireless substitution survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, 59% of adult residents of Georgia indicated that they were wireless-only phone users while 3.5% of them still relied exclusively on landline phones. The gap between wireless-only and landline-only phone users among minors in the state was wider. The survey recorded that 69.2% of residents under the age of 18 fell in the first category while 2.7% of this demographic were classified in the latter category.
Available cell phone plans in Bibb County include those offered by national and regional carriers. Among these phone service providers, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile have the widest coverage of the state. These carriers cover 99.9%, 99.1%, and 90.7% of Georgia respectively. Regional carriers are smaller phone service providers that mostly rely on the network infrastructure and services of bigger carriers. Also known as Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), these offer cheaper cell phone plans because they buy network services in bulk from national carriers and pass on some of the savings to their subscribers.
Residents of Bibb County can also sign up for VoIP phone services. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a communication technology that makes voice transmission over the internet possible. VoIP phone services require broadband internet access and transmit voice and video signals over the internet as data packets. For residents and businesses with fast internet access, VoIP can help them save on their phone bills especially for long distance and teleconferencing calls.
What are Bibb County Phone Scams?
These are telephone frauds reported in Bibb County. These phone scams include those committed in the county and those targeting its residents and businesses. Scammers use phone calls and text messages to contact those that plan to defraud. They may also use robocalls and spam calls to find new targets for their scams. These fraudsters convince their targets that they are trustworthy by impersonating loved ones and authority figures with caller ID spoofing and phishing.
To avoid phone scams and unmask the fraudsters behind them, residents of Bibb County should consider call blocking and reverse phone lookup. In addition to these helpful anti-scam tools, they need to learn all they can about prevalent phone scams in their communities. The Consumer Protection Division of the Office of Attorney General of Georgia identified the following as some of the most commonly reported telephone frauds in the state: IRS scams, lottery scams, tech support scams, and vacation scams.
What are Bibb County IRS Scams?
Fraudsters pretending to be employees of the Internal Revenue Service call unsuspecting residents to either ask for owed taxes or offer them tax refunds. When calling to demand payment of owed taxes, these callers are often rude and threaten their targets with dire consequences if they do not pay immediately. When calling to offer tax refunds, the goal of the scam is to steal confidential information, such as Social Security numbers, rather than money.
To avoid IRS scams, Bibb County residents must know how the IRS works. This agency does not make unscheduled calls to taxpayers and does not threaten them. The IRS initiates conversation by mail and contacts those owing taxes by mail too. If you receive a call from a stranger claiming to represent the IRS, use a phone number lookup to dig deeper and identify the real caller. Never send money to such callers or release confidential information over the phone.
What are Bibb County Lottery Scams?
Lottery scams begin with calls to residents informing them they have won huge sums in concluded lotteries. These are usually foreign lotteries that are harder to verify. Lottery scammers get their victims excited about the windfalls coming their way before informing them they need to pay some amounts to process their winnings and pay for taxes. They ask their victims to send these fees so they can quickly claim their winnings. This tactic is also used in sweepstakes and prize scams.
Residents of Bibb County should know that if they have to pay anything before claiming a free prize, then the prize is no longer free. It is illegal in the US for lottery organizers to ask winners to pay before claiming their prizes. Therefore, anyone asking you to send money before receiving a lottery/sweepstake prize, is a scammer. You can easily foil a lottery scam by investigating the caller with a free reverse phone number lookup. This will likely reveal that the caller is not who they are or that the number used has been flagged for previous scams.
What are Bibb County Vacation Scams?
Vacation scams involve aggressive telemarketers selling low-cost travel packages and fraudsters offering free vacations. These scammers offer very cheap vacation deals and then abscond after their victims pay for them. Alternatively, they may fail to mention hidden costs and standard features not included in such packages to achieve their low prices. Before paying for a discounted vacation package, make sure to read the fine print and ask lots of questions. Dishonest travel agencies misrepresent destinations, accommodations, and booked flights to trick vacationers into signing up.
Before paying up for an attractive vacation deal, make sure to confirm that the individual selling the deal is authorized to do that. Use phone number lookup to find out if they truly represent the travel agency offering the deal. Ask for written documentation of the terms of discounted vacation deals and go online to read reviews from those who have used the services of the travel agencies offering such deals.
What are Bibb County Tech Support Scams?
Tech support scams are impostor frauds in which fraudsters contact unsuspecting residents to tell them that their computers need immediate repairs to get rid of viruses or prevent system crashes. These callers claim to be customer service representatives of well-known tech support companies. They may even target their victims with popup ads that show up on their screens with numbers to call.
Tech support scammers may charge for bogus repairs and sell their victims computer security software they do not need. They may also ask for remote access to their victims’ machines and then install malware on these computers. Such malware may steal confidential personal and financial information, infect these machines with viruses and adware, or lock out victims from their computers until they pay demanded ransoms.
Georgia’s Attorney General warns residents never to give strangers remote access to their computers. Those that believe their computers are infected or need to be fixed should take them to local computer repair shops. Residents should also know that tech companies do not scan their customers’ computers for viruses remotely nor offer unsolicited tech support. If you receive a call from someone claiming to be tech support, investigate them with a good reverse phone lookup service.
What are Robocalls and Spam Calls?
Robocalls are automated phone calls that deliver pre-recorded messages. Those using robocalls set up auto-dialers to place calls to long lists of phone numbers and record the messages to be delivered. Such messages are usually recorded with voice synthesizers. Robocalls are cost-effective mass communication tools frequently used by political groups, telemarketers, and organizations that deliver public service announcements. Unfortunately, scammers are also flocking to this tool. These days, most of the robocalls received by American phone users are illegal and from scammers and dubious telemarketers.
Spam calls are also unwanted calls placed to lots of phone users. However, these are likely placed by human agents working for telemarketers and delivering similar messages based on prepared sales pitches. As the number of spam calls and robocalls received by American phone users increase sharply, there are concerted efforts to find lasting solutions to these annoying calls. Residents of Bibb County can stop robocalls and spam calls or cut down on the number of these unsolicited calls they receive by taking the following actions:
- Let calls from strange and unknown numbers go to voicemail. Review the messages left and determine which ones to return
- Block calls from unknown or blacklisted numbers from your phone. Smartphones have such call filtering features. Carriers offer them too and there are reputable third-party call blocking apps
- Hang up a call as soon as you realize it is a robocall or spam call
- Do not follow instructions provided in robocalls about steps to take to stop receiving further calls. Such prompts do not remove you from their call lists but confirm that your number is active and then directs more robocalls to it
- Identify unknown repeat callers with suspicious phone number lookup to determine whether they are scammers, spammers, or stalkers. The information gathered from such searches will be useful when submitting police reports about these callers
- Sign up your phone number to the National Do Not Call Registry to stop receiving unsolicited calls from telemarketers. Robocalls and spam calls received after 31 days of joining this registry are illegal and should be reported to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
How to Spot and Report Bibb County Phone Scams
Spotting telephone frauds means looking out for certain indicative signs. First, residents of Bibb County should learn all about phone scams and how fraudsters trick their victims. They should also be wary when talking to strangers on the phone. If such conversations lead towards sending money or releasing confidential information, phone users should be very cautious about how they proceed. To spot a phone scam, look out for these signs:
- Request for money by cash, gift card, prepaid debit card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency
- Threats of arrest, prosecution, deportation, and revocation of business, professional, or driver’s license
- High-pressure sales tactics meant to make you fear you will be missing out on a great deal
- Request for confidential information the organization the caller claims to represent should already have
- Caller’s refusal to provide written documentation support their claims and identity
- Foreign accents and poor grasp of the English language as some scammers are foreigners living in countries where English is a secondary language
If you notice any of these signs during a phone call with a stranger, hang up immediately. You can try to verify the identity of the caller with a reverse phone lookup and report them to the right authority. Reporting phone scams is important as such complaints provide law enforcement and consumer protection agencies with the right information to find, arrest, and prosecute fraudsters. Phone scam reports also increase public awareness of tactics used by scammers. Residents of Bibb County can report telephone frauds to the following agencies:
- The Consumer Protection Division of the Office of Attorney General of Georgia - this is the state’s consumer protection agency tasked with safeguarding residents and businesses in Georgia from consumer scams. Report a phone scam involving a consumer transaction to the Division by filing a complaint online or calling (404) 651-8600 or (800) 869-1123 (toll-free in Georgia, outside of Metro Atlanta)
- The Treasury Inspector General Administration (TIGTA) - this is the agency responsible for handling all IRS scams including impersonation scams. Residents of Bibb County can file IRS scam complaints with the TIGTA online
- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) - the federal consumer protection agency safeguards all American consumers against unfair and deceptive practices involving consumer transactions. Report consumer scams and dubious businesses to the FTC by calling (877) 382-4357 or filing a fraud complaint online
- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - the FCC oversees the communication sector in the US and regulates all communication in the country. Its authority includes regulating telecommunication services, tools, and providers. Residents of Bibb County can report phone scams as well as illegal robocalls, spam calls, caller ID spoofing, and phishing to the FCC’s Consumer Complaint Center