Nueces County Reverse Phone Lookup

What are Nueces County Area Codes?

An area code is the three-digit part of a telephone number that routes long-distance calls to their destination. When an area code is combined with the first three digits of a seven-digit local telephone number, a geographic address is formed that routes a call through the telephone network. These two sets of digits together direct a call to the required central office station to go, while the final four digits identify the specific customer line. You can find the area code for a community or region in the United States by using area code lookup tools online. Only one area code serves Nueces County.

Area Code 361

Area Code 361 was created from area code 512 and was first used in 1999. Communities served by area code 361 include Corpus Christi, Victoria, Kingsville, Alice, Portland, Beeville, Port Lavaca, Robstown, Ingleside, Rockport, and Aransas Pass.

What Are the Best Cell Phone Plans in Nueces County?

Statistics from a survey conducted by the National Center of Health Statistics in 2018 reveal that 67.9% of persons aged 18 and above in Texas used wireless-only telephony services, while only 2.5% used landline services exclusively. By contrast, among persons aged under 18, 76.6% used wireless telephony services exclusively with just 1.4% of individuals in that demographic using landline-only telephony service.

All major telephony service providers in the United States offer cell phone plans for residents in Nueces County. The top two services providers in the county are T-Mobile and AT&T. T-Mobile services cover 96% of Nueces County, while AT&T covers 90%. Verizon and Sprint have 78% and 64% coverage scores respectively in the county. Residents can also purchase cell phone plans from Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) in the county. MVNOs typically offer cheaper plans because they do not have to build or maintain telecommunications infrastructure, having leveraged on the infrastructure of Major Network Operators.

In addition to the MVNOs and the cellular telephony services from the four major carriers, residents of Nueces County also use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services for telephony communications from providers offering the service. VoIP allows users to make telephone calls through IP networks. Nueces County residents can make voice calls using a broadband internet connection instead of regular or analog phone lines. Since VoIP leverages on existing infrastructure (internet), calls are cheaper when compared with cellular phone plans.

What Are Nueces County Phone Scams?

Nueces County phone scams are the use of fraudulent acts perpetrated through phone calls to trick county residents into giving money or revealing personal information. Phone scammers often pretend to represent a trusted institution, company, or government agency. Phone scams may come through phone calls from real people, robocalls, or text messages. Callers who indulge in phone scams make promises or threaten residents to lure or coerce them into making urgent payments.

Phone scams have been around as long as landlines have existed. But due to the advent of smartphones, nearly everyone has their device on them at virtually all times — meaning there are that many more opportunities for callers to trick you with false claims, pleas for help, or even the promise of a free vacation. The Texas Attorney General's Office educates Texans on the latest scams and how to avoid them. Nueces County residents may use free reverse phone lookup tools to ascertain the true origins of suspicious phone numbers.

What are Nueces County Sheriff Imposter Scams?

Nueces County sheriff impostor scams involve scammers posing as representatives or employees of the Nueces County Sheriff's Office asking residents to pay money into certain accounts. Many of the scammers use a method called spoofing, where the official number of the Nueces County Sheriff's Office is copied and used to make calls to unsuspecting residents. In a sheriff imposter scam, the caller may claim that there is a warrant out for the arrest of a resident or that the resident has failed to report for jury duty. To avert the consequences, the scammer asks for the resident's credit card number or directs the purchase of a prepaid gift card which must be mailed to the caller.

The Nueces County Sheriff's Office makes it clear that it would not ask any resident for credit card information or demand the purchase of a gift card to clear a warrant. There are free reverse phone number lookup tools online to uncover who called and find who a number is registered to.

What are Nueces County Tech Support Scams?

A computer user in Nueces County may be brought into a tech support scam through a sudden and persistent pop-up warning that appears on the computer screen or by an unsolicited phone call from a "technician" claiming to have detected problems with the device. The "technician" poses as a representative of a reputable tech company such as Microsoft. Some residents may also witness high-pitched squeals or alarms, while others experience locked up or frozen screens. In many instances, these warnings are not the usual pop-up ads, rather, they appear like error messages generated from computer devices or as the "blue screen of death" that appears when a computer crashes completely. The screen provides a telephone number for the target to call.

Once connected to the toll-free number, a "technician" offers to repair any issues and asks for payment. The technician asks for remote access to the computer, scans the device for issues, and supposedly takes necessary measures to protect it from future problems. When payment is made and the victim grants remote access to the computer, the "technician" begins running through a series of diagnostics and supposed "fixes" to the device. During that period, the scammer steals personal and sensitive information off the computer and may even install spyware or ransomware. You can use good reverse phone lookup tools online to quickly do a number lookup or reverse number lookup. Doing this can help you verify if the technician’s number is associated with Microsoft or another trusted tech company.

What are Nueces County IRS Scams?

Although Internal Revenue Service scams are more prevalent during tax seasons, they may also happen at other times. In IRS scams, scammers posing as Internal Revenue Service agents or police officers use different tricks, including bullying and intimidation, to try to steal money from Nueces County residents. An IRS scammer typically threatens a target with arrest, deportation, license revocation, and imprisonment to get them to make payments. Funds are typically requested through prepaid debit cards, gift cards, or wire transfers.

Note that the IRS will not call about tax owed without first having mailed a bill to you. The IRS will also not demand that you pay taxes without having given you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount owed. The IRS does not receive payment by prepaid debit cards or gift cards.

What are Nueces County Charity Scams?

Nueces County charity scammers prey on the goodwill and generosity of county residents. Scammers claim to be representatives of legitimate charities and ask for donations from residents. When you donate money, the money ends up in a scammer’s pocket and not the charity you were hoping to support. In some instances, a scammer will make up a fictitious charity name and can even set up a fake website that looks like a site operated by a legitimate charity organization. The aim is to get you to donate not to a real charity, but to the scammer.

Fake charity scammers do not only go for residents' money. Some scammers will demand their targets' financial or personal information such as bank account information, credit card numbers, and Social Security numbers. Armed with this information, these fraudsters make fraudulent purchases with their victims' credit cards, drain their bank accounts, or take out loans in their names.

What are Robocalls and Spam Calls?

Robocalls are phone calls delivering prerecorded messages through computer-generated dialers. More precisely, the computer-generated dialers are known as Automatic Dialing Announcing Devices (ADADs). These devices store thousands of telephone numbers and then dial them automatically and play the recorded messages. Simply, if you receive a phone call and hear a recorded message instead of a live person, it is a robocall. Scammers often use robocalls to reach thousands of targets at once due to the ease of reaching a large audience with little effort. Sometimes, the scammer uses a robocall to find out if a number is active or to sell something illegal to defraud residents of their money.

Note that not all robocalls are illegal or spam calls. A robocall from an individual or entity that has obtained your permission is not considered illegal. A few other robocalls are permitted under FTC rules without the call recipient's permission. Such robocalls include calls from political organizations about candidates running for office, debt collection calls, calls from health care providers, charities asking for donations, or messages that are purely informational. You can use a good reverse phone lookup tool to find out who called you and conduct a free phone number lookup by name online.

Other guidelines that may be followed to limit robocalls include:

• Add your number to the National Do Not Call Registry. The FTC maintains this registry and requires all legitimate telemarketers to consult it before placing robocalls to citizens. If you still receive unsolicited calls 31 days after adding your number to the registry, they are likely to be spam calls.
• Do not trust your caller ID to identify the caller. With spoofing technology, scammers can now mimic a trusted business or government agency when contacting their targets.
• If you answer a call and hear a recorded message, hang up immediately.
• Do not answer calls from unrecognized numbers or callers. Answering unsolicited calls or pressing number options only verifies that a working phone number which results in more unwanted calls.
• Never give out money or personal information such as addresses, birthdate, Social Security number, insurance numbers, account numbers, or passwords to unknown persons on the phone.
• Request your phone service provider to block numbers associated with robocalls. Some of them offer products or services that can help conduct a suspicious phone number lookup or reverse phone lookup.
• Use call-blocking software. You can download one from any mobile application store. Examples include Truecaller, Hiya, and Nomorobo.

How to Spot and Report Nueces County Phone Scams?

Scammers target everyone. They use stealth and clever tricks to get what they want, which may be personal details or money. To keep yourself safe, it is important that you know how scammers trick their targets into revealing personal information. Tools such as reverse phone number lookup services are effective in identifying potential phone scams. The following are pointers to identify possible phone scams:

• The caller claims to be from an organization you know or trust and asks you for personal details such as Social Security number and bank details.
• The caller calls over and over, making it hard to ignore
• The caller uses robocalls or a recorded message and asks for payment or personal information
• The caller says your computer needs urgent attention and asks you to call a particular phone number or to access your computer
• The caller acts like it is an emergency and says something bad will happen if you do not call a number to check your details
• The caller says you have won a prize or there is money waiting for you
• The caller threatens you or makes you feel afraid
• The caller claims to know some of your personal details, reads it out, but requires you to reveal some part or other information to verify that you are the owner of an account
• The caller asks you to make payment by purchasing a gift card or by transferring money to unverifiable accounts.

You can file complaints in Nueces County with any of the following public bodies if you have been contacted by a scammer:

• The Nueces County Sheriff’s Office: Call the Nueces County Sheriff's Department's Criminal Investigation Division at (361) 887-2217.
• Local Police Departments: Contact your local police department. If you have been contacted by a scammer in the City of Corpus Christi, contact the Corpus Christi Police Department.
• The Texas Attorney General’s Office:  File a complaint online to the Consumer Protection Division of the Office or call the Office’s toll-free line at (800) 621-0508.
• The Federal Trade Commission: Report illegal robocalls by filing a report online. The Federal Communications Commission: File a report online to contact the FCC.