Reverse phone lookup or phone number search is a way of using a phone number to obtain more information about the owner. The usual procedure of looking up a standard phone directory is to use the subscriber’s name and address to get the phone number. In reverse phone lookup, it is the phone number used to discover details like the name, gender, address, and other publicly available records about the subscriber that owns the number. This is possible because of the data collated during the registration process required when obtaining a new number. Phone lookups bring up these details when residents of Washington DC submit phone numbers to their search engines.
What Are Washington D.C. Telephone Numbers?
The predominant traditional landline telephone system has made way for cordless and wireless phones. Landlines used to be the dominant and as of 2010, only 26.6% of American households used wireless phones exclusively. By 2018, however, a National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) indicates that that figure has more than doubled to over 54.9%.
Washington DC has followed this trend with most households exclusively using wireless phones. The percentage of adults (aged 18 and above) in Washington DC using wireless telephones exclusively stood at 49.7% in 2014 is currently about 57.4%. The rapid growth of the internet also contributed to the sharp decline of landline usage. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), that uses the internet as a medium of connection, is quickly becoming the preferred telephone service in the nation. Recent reports suggest it now has more active users than traditional landlines.
The four major telephone carriers all have extensive coverage in Washington DC AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint all have a 100% coverage in the territory.
Can I Search a Phone Number and Find Out Who It Is?
It is possible to run a search on a phone number to discover information on the owner. Phone number lookups are possible because carriers require subscribers to provide identifying details when signing up for new numbers. Details like name, gender, contact address, occupation, and business address of the prospective owner of the number are collated and stored in carriers’ databases. Some reverse phone lookup services can also find additional details such as criminal records (if made publicly available) and social media accounts. Phone lookup services are particularly helpful in cases where the caller ID fails to display any information about an unrecognized number. It helps subscribers answer the “who is this number registered to” question.
Washington D.C. Area Codes and Their Locations
Washington DC has just one area code. It is one of the original 86 area codes introduced by AT&T and Bell’s Laboratories in the late 40s to replace the old numbering and switching systems. Identifying this area code will help residents avoid scammers claiming to be from Washington DC but calling with other area codes. Current NANPA estimates suggest that the area code will be exhausted by 2022. The area code for Washington DC is:
- Area code 202 - Location
There are a few different ways to look up a local phone number in this area code. Whether you're trying to find a friend or business associate, a reverse phone lookup can be a helpful tool. One way is to use a reverse phone number lookup service. This amazing service will allow you to input a phone number and see who it belongs to. Another way to find a Washington DC phone number is to use an online phone directory. This will give you a list of numbers for businesses and individuals in the area. Finally, you can also find Washington DC telephone numbers by calling information and asking for the listing you need.
What Are Reverse Phone Number Lookup Services?
Phone lookup services are websites and apps that help enquirers discover more details about the owners of unrecognized phone numbers. While modern phones have caller ID functions for identifying subscribers registered to phone numbers, scammers can easily trick these to display other names and phone numbers. Because a scammer can trick the caller ID feature of a target’s phone to display any name they choose, it is better to use a reverse phone number lookup service to discover the real identity of the individual assigned the number used. Therefore, it is best not to fully trust caller ID to reveal and screen spam and scam callers.
What Is a VoIP Number?
VoIP numbers are phone numbers assigned to VoIP subscribers. While a VoIP number is identical to a regular telephone number and has the same number of digits, it is not assigned to a particular device. The popularity and acceptance of VoIP have been linked to a number of factors including lower cost and better flexibility compared to landline and cellular phone services.
Chief among the benefits of using VoIP is the freedom of choosing any preferred area code without being physically based in the state or region. With a regular telephone number, the subscriber has to live in the region or state of the area code assigned to them. This is not the case with VoIP numbers where users are free to choose any area code. This feature is particularly enticing to scammers who can decide to use the Washington's DC area code to deceive targets into thinking they are calling from the District of Columbia phone numbers.
The portability of VoIP numbers is another advantage. In the District of Columbia VoIP numbers can be used across multiple devices including computers, smartphones, landline phones fitted with VoIP adapters, and dedicated VoIP telephones. A VoIP number can be used on multiple devices simultaneously. This is to ensure that the user does not have to miss any phone call. If one device is not available, it will ring on another device as long as it has been set to do so by the subscriber. The subscriber can also receive calls with this number on any device from anywhere in the world at no additional cost.
The flexibility and portability of VoIP numbers have made it quite tricky to run a search on them. It is difficult to pinpoint current addresses of VoIP users. VoIP subscribers are advised to configure their devices to enable the Caller ID Name (CNAM) alongside the caller ID. This double authentication method will allow a call recipient to see the name that was used to register the VoIP number calling them. This should make it harder for scammers using VoIP services to hide their identities.
VoIP service providers can also be approached to help with running a phone lookup on a VoIP number. However, the accuracy of the result will depend on the validity of the address provided by the user during the registration process. The service provider will also need very legitimate reasons agreeing to provide subscriber information.
What Are Washington D.C. Phone Scams?
These refer to scams carried out via telephone, via calls or text messages, in Washington D.C. Scammers aim to steal money or sensitive, often financial and identity, information from their victims. The Office of the Attorney General regularly educates and sensitizes residents about the different phone scams criminals use to extort victims. The most common phone scams reported in Washington DC include:
- Telemarketing scams: Targets are called and offered enticing limited time offers that turn out misleading. While some telemarketing calls are genuine, a lot of them are from scammers.
- Debt collection scams: Scammers target debtors and coax them to pay overdue loans to the wrong agencies.
- Debt relief scams: Scammers call people with poor credit histories and promise to help reduce or even eliminate credit card debts, student loans, and even tax debts entirely for a fee.
- Healthcare fraud: This comes in different forms. Fake health insurance schemes are sometimes sold to victims. Other times, it could come as phone calls asking victims to update their social security or bank information to update their health insurance.
- Health product scams: Fake health products with claims to curing common or popular ailments are offered by scammers. They also offer fake weight loss products and phony hearing aids.
- Charity scams: Victims are tricked into donating to fake charities.
- Sweepstakes/Prize scams: Targets are called and informed they have won a prize that can only be redeemed after paying taxes on them or paying for shipping.
- Timeshare and Travel scams: Scammers offer their victims memberships in vacation clubs with free vacations as benefits if they meet certain conditions and pay some fees.
- Investment scams: Victims are offered investment opportunities with returns that look quite enticing to lure them to invest in the fake business.
- Money transfer scams: Covers all scams in which fraudsters convince their victims to wire money to them through companies like MoneyGram or Western Union.
13 Steps to Avoiding Being a Victim of a Phone Scam
- Register your phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry. This will significantly reduce the number of unsolicited calls received.
- Block numbers that have been used to make telemarketing calls to you.
- Do not transfer money to any distressed relative without confirming the authenticity of their claims.
- Be wary of debt collectors that call outside business hours.
- Do not trust any debt relief offer received on the phone. Rather, contact the credit card company first before hiring a debt relief agency.
- Never provide your personal information to anyone over the phone.
- Be aware that there is no single miracle drug that cures every ailment. Go to your doctor to prescribe recommended medications.
- Avoid charities that refuse to give full information about themselves or try to pressure you into donating immediately.
- Research the charities soliciting donations online to verify their authenticity before donating.
- If you have to pay before claiming a prize you supposedly won, then you are being scammed.
- Do not be pressured into acting immediately to take advantage of limited-time offers. Research any offer or investment opportunity presented to you.
- The IRS or any other government agency will not call to threaten arrest over unpaid taxes.
- Victims of phone scams are advised to submit complaints to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Washington D.C. Tech Support Scams
Tech support scams are ploys by scammers to access their targets’ computer systems to obtain sensitive information or bill them for unrequired fixes. They go about this by assuming the identities of the support staff of major tech companies, mostly Microsoft. Targets are then called and informed that their systems have been infected with malware. The only solution offered will be to provide remote access to the alleged infected system.
However, tech support scammers may install malware once given access to victims’ computers. They may then charge fees for the fake repairs they allegedly carried out. The Office of the Attorney General noted that about 175,000 complaints of tech support scam were received by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2017. The AG’s office warned residents not to hand over control of their computers to anyone or respond to unsolicited system repairs and only use tech companies they trust. Victims of tech support scams in Washington DC can submit email complaints or use the webform provided by the Consumer Protection division of the Attorney General’s Office.
Washington D.C. Voice Phishing Scams
When employing voice phishing, scammers communicate with their targets while assuming the identities of important individuals or government agencies. Banks and government agencies, with legitimate reasons to seek personal information from victims of the scam, are the most commonly impersonated parties. Believing that they are communicating with official representatives of these organizations, targets will give out personal information to the wrong people. A couple resident in the district recently lost about $1.5 million to this scam. The district’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer sensitized residents about this scam and warned them to be cautious before releasing personal information. They were urged to report suspected phishing scams.
What Is a Washington D.C. Robocall?
Robocalls are unsolicited automated calls that deliver pre-recorded messages. They were first used by businesses to reach their clients and political campaigners trying to woo voters. Robocalls have now become worrisome, with billions of robocalls received annually. Residents of Washington DC received over 127 million robocalls in June 2020 alone. The proliferation of robocalls is a source of concern for every resident, and the do not call registry was put up to reduce the menace. Scammers have also embraced robocalls and use them to fish for potential victims. The Office of the People’s Counsel (OPC) in DC advised residents to hang up immediately if they confirm incoming calls as robocalls. Residents who keep getting robocalls after registering on the do not call list should lodge their complaints with the FCC.
What Are Washington D.C. Emergency Scams?
Emergency scams are also called grandparent scams because senior citizens are the usual targets and scammers pose as their grandchildren. While impersonating their grandkids, scammers call targets and claim to be stuck in emergency situations they need money to escape. Alternatively, scammers may introduce themselves as authority figures trying to help the loved ones in the emergency and requiring immediate money transfers to get them home safely.
DC’s Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking (DISB) warned residents to verify the identities of the relatives calling about being in distress before sending them money. They are to hang up immediately and try making contact with the loved one directly or other relations to confirm the claimed emergencies. Residents who have fallen victim to this scam or who know any victim should contact the DISB’s enforcement and consumer protection division by calling (202) 727-8000.
What Are Washington D.C. IRS Scams?
Scammers pretend to be tax officials and call targets about unpaid taxes with threats of immediate arrest or deportation if payments are not sent immediately. This scam is especially rampant as the deadline to submit tax returns gets closer. Residents can also be scammed through cloned websites of legitimate agencies that are supposed to be used to update their tax information. Such clone sites harvest victims’ personal information for identity theft. A consumer alert from the Office of the DC’s Attorney General reminds residents that the IRS will never initiate contact with residents via the telephone or email, nor will they threaten immediate arrest.
What Is Phone Spoofing?
Phone spoofing is the term used to describe a caller intentionally tampering with the information transmitted to the recipient’s caller ID. This usually involves falsifying the name shown on the recipient’s ID and displaying a recognized number. Scammers know most subscribers do not pick calls from unrecognized numbers. Therefore, they use caller ID spoofing to gain their trust by hiding behind local and familiar numbers belonging to government agencies and private organizations.
The DC Department of Health (DC Health) had their number spoofed in 2019. Residents were called with numbers that looked like that of the agency. Scammers threatened to withhold medical services and supplies if some personal information was not provided. DC Health reminds everyone they would never ask for personal information on the phone. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) provides some guidelines for handling suspected spoofed calls.
What Are Private Organizations Doing to Stop Spam Calls?
Phone manufacturers include tools to help detect and block spam calls in the devices’ operating systems. Android phones, for example, have the spam filter function in its “Settings” menu. Users can activate this to detect and block suspected spam calls. They may also choose to review the numbers the filter has caught and approve those that are not spam. This will help Google’s prediction algorithm get better.
iPhone users can access a similar feature by turning on the “Silence Unknown Callers” function on their devices. This silences calls from unrecognized numbers, some of which might be spam. Another option is for them to download third-party mobile apps for spam detection and filtering.
Carriers also offer spam detection and filtering services to their subscribers. Some of these are free while others are paid, premium services. They are also spearheading the development of the STIR/SHAKEN feature that is set to make caller ID spoofing harder. Once introduced, this will significantly reduce phone scams.
How To Deal With a Stalker
Phone stalking occurs when a victim is harassed with non-stop calls and text messages, causing emotional distress. With everyone taking their mobile phones everywhere, it is easy to reach a contact at any time. These convenience features of mobile phones are exploited by phone stalkers to harass their targets. Experts provide the following advices for dealing with phone stalkers:
- Do not engage with the stalker. Doing so only leads to the stalker getting bolder and more intrusive.
- Block the number used by the stalker. This will put a temporary stop to any communication between the stalker and the victim.
- Change your phone number if the stalking does not stop. The new number obtained should only be made known to very few friends and family members.
- Avoid picking calls from unrecognized numbers. Some legitimate phone calls will be missed by taking this step, but it is a small price to pay for outwitting a stalker.
- Report the stalking to your local law enforcement.
- Recognize a pattern to the calls and text messages to help law enforcement agencies with their investigations.
In the District of Columbia reverse phone lookup will help law enforcement as they seek to get more information about the reported stalker. By identifying the stalker and finding their contact address, agents of the law can strip the stalker of their anonymity and warn them off.
What Is a Washington DC Phone Number Area Code?
An area code is the first three digits in a typical 10-digit American phone number. The increase in the number of telephone subscribers demanded a new dialing system as the old one became too much to handle by the human operators that were used by the old switching system to connect calls. Area codes, developed by AT&T and Bell’s Laboratories, were then introduced in the 1940s to serve as a modern successor. Different states and regions were given different area codes to make call switching easier, especially for long-distance calls. Subscribers can also locate where a call is coming from just by seeing the area code.
The FCC is the regulatory body that oversees the administration of this numbering system. They do this by constituting the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA). The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is a telephone numbering plan that encompasses twenty-five distinct territories in the world, including the USA and its possessions, Canada, Bermuda, and eighteen countries in the Caribbean. Each NANP member country is assigned a country code, which is used to route telephone calls to the correct country. In addition to country codes, NANP numbers also include area codes and exchange codes that are used to route calls within a country. The FCC then empowers individual state utility commissions for the effective administration of the assigned area codes.
What Is a Washington D.C. Phone Number Prefix Code?
A prefix code is also part of a telephone number. It narrows down the location of a phone number more than the area code. It is a block of three digits that comes immediately after the area code in a phone number. Taking the telephone number (296) 555-4789 as an example:
- 296 is the area code
- 555 is the prefix code
- 4789 stands for the line number
The international dialing code, +1, is introduced if the caller is outside the USA. The telephone number becomes +1 (296) 555-4789 with
- +1 standing for the international dialing code
- 296 is the area code
- 555 represents the prefix code
- 4789 is the line number
Who Controls Washington D.C. Area Codes?
While the FCC, through NANPA, regulates the numbering system and ensures the country does not run out of phone numbers, it is the duty of the state to control the area code in their territory. In Washington DC, the Public Service Commission (PSC) is in charge of administering the area code. There is currently a review of a petition by NANPA to the PSC to start preparing for relief of the 202 area code as the projected exhaustion period gets closer.
Where Is Area Code 202?
Area code 202 was part of the original 86 area codes that were introduced in 1947. It serves the whole federal Washington DC, which has Washington DC as the only city.
Is There a Way to Lookup a Phone Number for Free in Washington DC?
Yes, interested members of the public may look up a phone number for free in Washington DC. However, while a number of services may claim to offer this kind of lookup, most of them require payment or have limited functionality.
One option is to use the third-party aggregate sites. These services allow users to search for names and/or addresses across all 50 states; however, the information provided by these resources might be limited in Washington DC due to privacy laws. It may be possible to find basic contact information such as an address or city, but other details may not be included in these results.
Another method that can be used to locate phone numbers in Washington DC is are online public record directories. These directories provide a wide range of public information, including telephone numbers for all 50 states. While not all sources may offer detailed profiles, it can provide basic contact information such as street addresses and cities for individuals living in DC.
Finally, those looking for a way to lookup a phone number in Washington DC should consider utilizing their local library or government offices. These institutions often have access to more detailed records than what's available on the web and may be able to provide more accurate results depending on the circumstances. Additionally, they may be willing to provide free assistance with locating specific contacts if given enough advance notice. Although these methods are not as quick and convenient as online lookup tools, they may still be the best option for those who need to find a phone number without paying any money.
