Scam Calls from Area Code 502

Debt-reduction pitches define area code 502, Kentucky's Louisville-anchored code, by a wide margin. The 1,261 complaints logged under "Reducing your debt (credit cards, mortgage, student loans)" account for the single largest category by far, dwarfing the next-closest bucket and pointing to a coordinated campaign using 502 numbers to pitch credit card, mortgage, and student loan relief to consumers across Florida, Texas, and California — states well outside Kentucky's borders.

Impersonation calls add a secondary layer of pressure, with 534 complaints filed under "Calls pretending to be government, businesses, or family and friends." Number 502-242-2746 is the clearest entry point into that cluster, drawing 32 complaints. Medical and prescription solicitations generated 149 complaints and produced two of the three highest-volume individual numbers in the dataset: 502-678-5122 led all tracked numbers with 49 complaints, and 502-288-0622 added 15 more.

Several high-complaint numbers carry no category assignment at all. Numbers 502-317-0453 (33 complaints), 502-267-7522 (26), 502-476-0053 (23), 502-293-1384 (20), and 502-301-1970 (18) together account for 120 complaints without a disclosed pitch type, suggesting either rapid rotation of scripts or calls that were disconnected before content could be identified — consistent with the 168 dropped-call or silent-call complaints also on record.

The FCC holds 22 enforcement records tied to this code, and of the mode-classified calls, 824 were prerecorded against only 70 live-agent contacts. That ratio points heavily toward automated dialing infrastructure rather than boiler-room staffing. The code ranks 21st out of 358 area codes by complaint volume and 5th among Kentucky's 39 assigned codes, placing it in an aggressive tier for a geographically bounded state code.

Activity first appeared in February 2026 and remains ongoing as of June 2026, with 4,209 total complaints spread across 1,708 distinct numbers. The breadth of numbers relative to complaints — roughly 2.5 complaints per number — suggests deliberate number cycling to avoid per-number blocking, a tactic that keeps the debt-relief pipeline active even as individual numbers accumulate negative attention.