INDIANAPOLIS -- We all know scammers spend day and night calling potential victims, hoping to steal their money and information. Now we have a better idea of where they’re calling from, or at least pretending to call from.  Phone number lookup service ReversePhone recently compiled the top five area codes and phone numbers used by scammers in 2024. The list is based on the number of complaints about scam calls from each number and in each area code. The five most popular area codes for scammers in 2024 were 720 in north-central Colorado, 272 in northeastern Pennsylvania, 959 in Hartford, Connecticut, 829 in the Dominican Republic and 346 in the Houston metro area. The top five phone numbers used by scammers were (763) 274-3899, (217) 402-1312, (202) 456-1111, (662) 255-3743 and (325) 244-7821. It’s important to remember this doesn’t mean the scammers are all calling from Colorado, Pennsylvania or anywhere else in the U.S., for that matter. Scammers can call from anywhere in the world and “spoof” the number to make it look local. While many people these days refuse to answer calls from numbers they don’t know, some people enjoy answering calls and “messing” with the would-be scammer. However, according to experts, if you answer the call, you’ve just confirmed that your number is active and it belongs to a live person. At that point, the caller is likely to keep your number in their queue, and you can expect to receive more calls later.  If you do answer a call and it turns out to be spam or a scam, it’s a good idea to block the number and report it as junk.