Scam Calls from Area Code 515

Area code 515 covers Des Moines and the surrounding Iowa corridor — Ankeny, Ames, Waterloo, and Boone — and has generated 727 complaints across 331 distinct numbers since February 2026, with activity recorded as recently as June 2026. Although it ranks 241st out of 358 area codes overall, it sits at 24th out of 39 among its peer group, suggesting above-average pressure for its category. The complaint load is concentrated enough that a relatively small number of numbers are driving a disproportionate share of volume.

The two largest complaint categories are debt-reduction pitches and impersonation calls, each drawing 75 complaints, followed closely by medical and prescription scams at 64. Dropped calls — likely robocall probes or silent autodialers — account for another 77 complaints, the single largest count, pointing to heavy automated dialing infrastructure behind the activity. Warranties and protection plans add 11 more complaints at the margins.

Two numbers dominate the medical and prescription category. 515-971-7472 has 16 complaints and 515-979-8288 has 12, making them the first- and third-highest-volume numbers in the dataset. On the debt-reduction side, 515-575-0240 and 515-305-2814 have each drawn 7 complaints. The FCC has logged 17 prerecorded-message incidents against only one live-call record, confirming that robocall delivery is the dominant method across the code.

Two numbers — 515-575-0235 with 14 complaints and 515-335-0302 with 7 — carry no category assignment but rank second and sixth by volume respectively, meaning their combined 21 complaints represent meaningful unclassified activity alongside the named scam types. Complaints have also been filed by callers located in California and Texas, indicating these numbers are reaching well beyond the Iowa geography they nominally represent.

The pattern that emerges is a robocall-heavy operation using Iowa 515 numbers to target consumers across multiple states, with medical and prescription lures and debt-reduction pitches as the primary hooks. The ongoing recency flag, the prerecorded-message dominance, and the cross-state reach suggest a persistent dialing campaign rather than isolated incidents, and the unclassified high-volume numbers leave open the possibility that additional scam categories are operating under the same infrastructure.