What are Santa Fe County Area Codes?
An area code refers to a three-digit number that indicates the specific Numbering Plan Area (NPA) where a call was placed. Area codes prefix every standard North American telephone number created in accordance with the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). Therefore, an individual can determine where a call originates from by conducting an area code lookup with good reverse phone lookup tools.
Santa Fe County is primarily covered by one area code, which is:
Area Code 505
Area code 505 was one of the original area codes created in October 1947. It served the whole of the State of New Mexico until October 7, 2007, when it was split to form area code 575. Hence, the northwestern and central portions of New Mexico retained area code 505, while the rest were assigned to area code 575. Area code 505 covers the Albuquerque metropolitan area, Santa Fe, Gallup, and Farmington.
What Are the Best Cell Phone Plans in Santa Fe County?
Santa Fe County is home to the four major wireless service providers in the US. These wireless service providers are AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint. Among the four, AT&T has the highest coverage in Santa Fe County with 98%. T-Mobile is the second-highest with 78%, followed by Verizon, with 70%, and lastly, Sprint, with 48%. The data quality of these wireless service providers is also good. However, minor hitches may occur in the wireless network service quality when affected by bad weather.
The National Center of Health Statistics reported the telephone status survey of 2018. The survey showed that 66.4% of the New Mexico adult population only used wireless telephones. Conversely, only 4.1% of the adults in New Mexico used landlines as their sole telephony service option. On the other hand, 81.5% of minors in New Mexico used only wireless telephone services, while just 1% of minors used only landlines. Quite evidently, there is a significant gap between the exclusive use of telephones and the exclusive use of landlines in the state, especially among minors. This is because a larger percentage used only wireless telephones instead of landlines.
VoIP means Voice over Internet Protocol. It has grown in popularity among residents and businesses in Santa Fe County, especially because it is cost-effective and has advanced features available. These features are available in varying subscription plans at affordable prices, depending on the choice of the users. VoIP has several features, including call analytics, name dialing, anonymous calling, conference calling, call rejection, auto line attendants, call routing, advanced call management, voicemail/ call forwarding, etc.
What Are Santa Fe County Phone Scams?
Scams perpetrated over the phone with the intent of defrauding Santa Fe County residents are called phone scams. In phone scams, scammers devise innovative ways to steal from unsuspecting residents and manipulate them into divulging their personal information. With the advent of recent telephony innovations, phone scams have become more sophisticated. Scammers now fraudulently use VoIP for Caller ID spoofing. Here, they impersonate legitimate entities and spoof their Caller IDs to make the calls appear to be from the legitimate entities. Performing a reverse phone lookup free of charge can help identify spoofed Caller IDs. In a bid to combat phone scams, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) educates residents on illegal Caller ID spoofing and how to avoid falling victim to it. The FCC also enlightens residents on the procedures of using available call blocking tools and resources.
Santa Fe County residents can take active steps to avoid being victims of phone scams by performing phone number lookups using reverse phone number lookup services when they get unsolicited calls.
Some common phone scams reported in Santa Fe County include:
What Are Santa Fe County Sheriff Impersonation Scams?
The County Sheriff impersonation scams are quite prevalent in Santa Fe County. In these scams, imposters spoof the County Sheriff’s Caller IDs and call to inform their targets that they committed a crime or failed to report for jury duty. They add that consequently, warrants have been issued for their arrest. The scammers then request money to cancel the warrants and avoid arrest. Typically the payment is requested via bitcoins, prepaid cards, and wire transfers.
In other cases of these scams, an imposter may claim to be investigating a crime that was committed using the recipient’s bank account. They then request the recipient’s financial details to aid their investigation and stop the scam on their bank account. Residents in such situations should hang up and conduct phone number lookups free of charge with a free reverse phone lookup tool.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office creates awareness of these scams and tells residents to be wary of them. The Sheriff’s deputy, detective, or any other representative will never request payment or personal information over the phone. They will also never demand payment to negotiate a warrant. Report such scam calls to the Warrants Division by calling (505) 986-2491.
What Are Lottery Scams?
Lottery scams involve scammers calling residents to inform them of prizes, lotteries, and other winnings. However, before these winnings are awarded to the supposed beneficiaries, the scammers request that these persons make upfront payments for processing fees, taxes, etc. Residents should be informed that winnings never require recipients to make payment upfront. Upfront payment for winnings is a major scam red flag and residents should be wary of such. Conducting a phone number search will help identify the person who called.
What Are Charity Scams?
Fraudsters impersonate legitimate charitable organizations to defraud Santa Fe County residents. These scams mostly occur in Santa Fe County, after the county experiences a pandemic or any tragic event that renders less privileged residents homeless or jobless. Fraudsters exploit the emotions of benevolent residents, who innocently wish to help less privileged persons. They call residents, impersonating legitimate charitable organizations, and make highly emotional solicitations for donations. However, after the donations are made, the fraudsters misappropriate the funds and cut off contact with the donators.
Residents can avoid these scams by searching using the New Mexico Attorney General's Registry of Charitable Organizations’ Charity Search website before donating.? The Attorney General also helps combat these scams by enforcing the Charitable Solicitations Act. Be wary of charity scams and only make donations to verified charitable organizations. Conduct a reverse phone lookup to ascertain who called.
What Are Overpayment Scams?
This scam involves a scammer deliberately “overpaying” for an item by sending you a fake check for a lot more than the actual amount of the item. After this, they claim they made a mistake and request that you send them back the excess amount, but keep some as compensation for inconveniencing you. Be wary of such scams because, in most cases, the check or online payment may be fraudulent, and you will end up losing whatever money you send to the scammer.
What Are Robocalls and Spam Calls?
Robocalls are pre-recorded calls transmitted to several persons using programmed autodialers. Generally, these calls are strictly informational because they only contain recorded messages sent by political bodies, legitimate charitable organizations, and government agencies. However, in other cases, especially for illegal robocalls, the robocalls contain prompts for recipients to speak to live agents or they reel out phone numbers for the recipients to call back. Individuals must be informed that such robocalls are likely fraudulent. Likewise, spam calls are similar to illegal robocalls as they are sent without the recipients' consent. They deliver irrelevant messages meant for advertisement and proselytization to a large number of persons. Scammers illegally use robocalls to swindle residents and deceive them into sharing their personal and financial information.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) introduced the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991 to regulate the use of robocalls. The TCPA authorizes residents to report robocalls that they receive without giving their prior consent. The Act provides that residents' willful consent is mandatory before robocalls can be sent to them. Unsolicited robocalls can be reported to the FTC.
However, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) permits certain robocalls to be made irrespective of the consent requirement. They include:
- Informational robocalls
- Legitimate health institution robocalls
- Political campaign robocalls
- Charitable organization robocalls
- Debt collection robocalls
Ignoring robocalls is the easiest way to avoid robocall scams, but if you unknowingly pick them, take these steps:
- Hang up instantly and utilize the in-built call-blocking application on your phone to block the phone number from ever calling you. Phone network service providers also offer more call-blocking options that you may explore.
- Disregard any directives given during the call because they may possibly be traps to target the recipients with more robocalls. The directives may be for recipients to press certain numbers to stop receiving the robocalls or to be connected with live agents.
- Register your phone number on the FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry by signing up with all your phone numbers to reduce robocalls. Your phone number becomes active after 31 days of registration, after which you can report any robocalls you receive.
- File reports on unsolicited robocalls to the FTC online or call 1-888-382-1222 to report.
How to Spot and Report Santa Fe County Phone Scams?
Unsuspecting Santa Fe County residents regularly fall victim to the schemes of phone scammers; hence, residents are encouraged to be watchful of phone scams and know how to spot them. Prevalent indicators of phone scams are:
- Requests for upfront payment for supposed winnings such as gifts, lottery, award, etc., Usually, the scammers say the upfront payments are meant for processing fees or taxes
- Requests for victims’ personal information. Personal information such as social security numbers, mothers' maiden names, credit card numbers, passwords, etc., should not be shared
- Solicitations for financial aid with unverifiable claims
- Business and investment opportunities that are hitch-free with high returns and no risks
- Insistence on specific unconventional payment methods like bitcoins, wire transfers, cash, gift cards, prepaid cards. It is almost impossible to track and recover payments made via any of these means
- Bullying and threats of arrest, deportation, revocation of one’s license, and other serious consequences if the recipient does not take certain action instantly. The action may be to make a payment or divulge personal information
- Caller concealing basic information about themselves and telling you not to disclose the details of the call to anyone
- Caller claiming to be able to help in retrieving the money you lost to a scam for a fee.
Perform a phone number lookup by name or phone number lookup by address using a phone number search tool to identify who called you. Your findings and the details of the call can be reported to any of these government agencies:
Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office - Phone scams and general crime issues can be reported by contacting the County Sheriff at:
35 Camino Justicia
Santa Fe, NM 87508
Public Safety Complex
505-986-2455
Call 911 if the case requires immediate action.
The New Mexico Office of the Attorney General - Contact the Advocacy and Intervention Division of the AG’s Office to get directions on filing specific complaints. The Office accepts complaints of identity theft and other phone scams. Victims can also file complaints electronically using the Electronic Complaint Submission (ECS) website. The contact details of the Advocacy and Intervention Division is:
408 Galisteo Street
Villagra Building
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Toll-Free: 1 (844) 255-9210
Phone: (505) 490-4060
Fax: (505) 490-4883
Federal Communications Commission - Fill out the online complaint form to submit online complaints of illegal robocalls, Caller ID spoofing frauds, and other phone scams to the FCC.
Federal Bureau of Investigation - Report complaints of general fraud and criminal matters to (202) 324-3000.
Federal Trade Commission - Submit online complaints to report identity theft, illegal robocalls, illegal Caller ID spoofing, unwanted telemarketing calls, texts, or spam calls, and other scams. Reports can also be made by calling 877-FTC-HELP or 877-ID-THEFT.