Don’t Answer The Phone From These Area Codes

Michelle Wilson - June 22, 2020

Sometimes you get a call from some unknown number that turns out to simply be a mistakenly dialed number from the caller. No harm, no foul. Of course now a days it’s more likely someone looking to steal your money. There is actually a list that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has put together of area codes that they deem to be unsafe to answer.

Have you ever heard of the term “Wangiri”? Well, unless you are Japanese (from where the word originates) or are highly knowledgeable in the workings of phone scammers, you probably haven’t heard of Wangiri. Wangiri is Japanese for “one ring and cut”. The idea of this scam is to get you to answer and then hang up immediately hoping to intrigue you to call the number back, in which they charge your number as much as $20 for the call and up to $10 per minute while they keep you on the phone. There have even been reports of unfortunate people who have lost as much as $50 per minute on a Wangiri scam.

Telephone fraud is a global juggernaut that posts numbers up to $37 billion a year. But you can avoid becoming a victim by simply avoiding these area codes.

The FCC Advises Consumers To Never Answer Calls From These Area Codes (unless of course you recognize the number):

International Area Codes:

242	Bahamas	268	Antigua
441	Bermuda	664	Montserrat
784	St. Vincent and Grenadines	876	Jamaica
246	Barbados	284	British Virgin Islands

767	Dominica	721	St. Maarten
264	Anguilla	758	St. Lucia
649	Turks and Caicos	869	St. Kitts and Nevis
868	Trinidad and Tobago	345	Cayman Islands
473	Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique
809,829,849	Dominican Republic

Canadian Area Codes:

403,587,780	Alberta	306,639	Saskatchewan
204,431	Manitoba	902	Nova Scotia
506	New Brunswick	709,879	Newfoundland
867	Nunavut, Northwest Territory & Yukon Territory

236,250,604,778	British Columbia
418,438,450,514,579,581, 819,873	Quebec
226,249,289,365,416,437, 519,613,646,705,807,905	Ontario
600,622,633,644,655, 677,688	Nationwide

U.S. Territories Area Codes::

684	American Samoa	787,939	Puerto Rico
671	Guam	340	U.S. Virgin Islands
670	Northern Mariana Islands

Also avoid numbers with area code 900 in the US and numbers that begin with 976 after the area code in Canada.

Am I In Danger If I Answer?

The One-Ring scams from these area codes cost consumers worldwide almost $2 Billion a year. The FCC has made it a point to warn about these kinds of calls in 2014, as well as again in 2019 as a second wave of these calls hit the lines.

Experts have predicted that nearly half of all calls in the United States by the end of 2019, will be scam calls. The chances are pretty significant that you’ll be a target during this time. But knowing what to avoid will help you keep your hard earned money right where you put it.