What are Lake County Area Codes?
Lake County area codes are 321, 352, 407, and 689.
Lake County area codes are three-digit numbers used to identify a telephone service region. The area code is the first three digits in a phone number. Lake County has four different area codes in the county.
Area code 321 is a Florida telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). Covering South-East Florida, this area code covers some parts of Montverde in Lake County.
Area code 352 is a Florida telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). It covers the area of central Florida. Cities covered by this area code include:
Clermont, Eustis, Fruitland Park, Groveland, Howey-In-The-Hills, Lady Lake, Leesburg, Mascotte, Minneola, Montverde, Mount Dora, and Tavares.
Area code 407 is a Florida telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). It covers the Orlando area of Florida. In Lake County, this area code covers some parts of Montverde.
Area code 689 is a Florida telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). It also covers the area of South-East Florida. This area code covers some parts of Montverde in Lake County.
What are the Best Cell Phone Plans in Lake County?
The best cell phone plans in Lake County are Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint.
These service providers have county-wide coverage. In Florida, 34.9% of the population are subscribed to Verizon cell phone services, 34.1% use AT&T, 17.5% use T-Mobile, and 12.1% use Sprint.
Other major service providers in Lake county are Centurylink, Windstream, SmartCity, Quincy Telecommunications, ITS Telecommunications, Fairpoint Communications, and North-East Florida Telecommunications company.
A report by the Florida Public Service Commission showed that in Florida, landline usage is steadily reducing. Households are substituting their landlines for wireless cell phones. As of 2017, 57% of residences use only wireless phone systems. As of December 2018, the total number of Florida's landline usage declined by 23.2%, from 2.5 million in 2017 to about 1.9 million in 2018.
In Lake County, 85.6% of households have internet broadband services giving these households access to VoIP(Voice over Internet Protocol) services. 12.5 % of residents in Florida were VoIP subscribers as of 2018.
The traditional wireline telephone household and business connections in Florida are being converted to broadband connections. Local wireline service providers recorded a 24% increase in VoIP subscribers between June 2016 and June 2017.
What are Lake County Phone Scams?
Lake County phone scams are fraudulent or dishonest schemes perpetrated over the phone or using phone lines in the county area codes. Phone scams vary, from impersonation to identity theft. The aim is generally to extract vital information from phone users to defraud them.
In February 2020, the Lake County Sheriff Department issued a warning of a fraudulent call impersonating the Clermont Police Department. Other common scams targeting phone users include:
- Business investment scams
Scammers call to present an investment opportunity, soliciting participation or registration fees.
- Lottery scams
Scammers call to inform targets of a prize, lottery, or raffle draw won, requesting a gift shipping fee or a kind of registration fee.
- Debt relief scams
Scammers offer to improve the target's credit score, help debt cancelation for a fee.
- Free trial scams
Scammers offer targets an opportunity to try products for free, requesting registration, card details, etc.
According to a Hiya(a caller profile company) survey, records show that phone scammers target three out of four Americans. Phone scammers employ different means to defraud phone users, including robocalls. Robocalls are automated calls made to deliver a prerecorded message to multiple phone users at the same time. Fraudulent individuals use robocalls to contact phone users to collect the user's identity or present a scheme.
The appropriate response to robocalls is to ignore. If the user answers, the call may prompt for additional inputs. These could aid scammers in extracting vital information. Sometimes the fraudulent robocalls come in the form of a sales pitch or a marketing advert.
How Can You Spot and Report Lake County Phone Scams?
To spot and report Lake County phone scams, be vigilant and pay close attention to calls.
The Federal Trade Commission presents a few tips on how to recognize and respond to phone scams. Individuals can conduct a reverse phone lookup to ascertain the identity of a caller. You can also report suspicious calls to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office
360 West Ruby Street
Tavares, Fl, 32778
(352) 343-2101
Individuals may also file a report through the Citizen Online Reporting System maintained by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Phone scams have become common in Florida. Fraudsters even pose as law enforcement officers to gather vital information about victims. In a news report, Florida’s attorney general warned citizens about impersonation using voice cloning technology.
Some of the warning signs of phone scams include requests for social security numbers, request for payment of service via gift card, request for card details, and asking to confirm sensitive information.
Scammers pretend to be members of law enforcement agencies, lottery promoters, sales personnel and marketers with time-sensitive opportunities, travel agencies with lofty packages, and charity organizations solicitors.
As a protective measure, hang up calls from suspicious numbers and consider call blocking. Scammers have adopted technological means to present false caller identification, so do not always rely on caller IDs. Carry out a phone number lookup by address to confirm the credibility of a call.
Report at the Federal Trade Commission if you get a suspicious call. In case the number of the caller is unknown, you can carry out a reverse phone lookup for clarity.
Citizens also have the option of enrolling phone numbers on the Do Not Call Registry provided by the FTC . Adding a number to the Do Not Call Registry prevents the number from receiving sales calls from legitimate telemarketers. Further telemarketing calls to numbers registered on the Do Not Call Registry are illegal.
Interested persons can make use of call blocking apps and services which automatically detect and reject unwanted calls. Some of these services include the inherent call blocking tools on Android and iOS phones. To activate these services on Android,
- Open the phone app, tap the three vertical dots at the top-right, select settings from the menu, then select Block numbers. Alternatively, go to the recent calls log, hold down the number you wish to block, select Block/report spam.
To block a number on an iPhone,
- open the Phone app, tap the recent tab at the bottom of the screen, click the “i” symbol next to the number you wish to block, scroll down and tap Block this caller.
There are various service platforms online where a phone user can perform free phone number lookup by name.