353 Area Code — South Boston/SE Massachusetts, Massachusetts
About the 353 Area Code
Area code 353 serves South Boston/SE Massachusetts, Massachusetts, a major coastal metropolitan area known for high telecommunications density and early adoption of advanced calling services. All major national carriers—AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile USA—operate extensive networks here. Brockton and Quincy are the main hubs, and the area code runs on Eastern time.
Key Information
- Region: South Boston/SE Massachusetts
- State / Province: Massachusetts
- Timezone: Eastern
- Major Cities: Brockton, Quincy
Area Code Overview
Area code 353 is a Wisconsin-wide overlay, added in 2023 to supplement the existing 414 (Milwaukee), 608 (Madison and southwest Wisconsin), and 262 (Milwaukee suburbs and Lake Michigan shore) codes as the state approached number exhaustion. The overlay covers the entire state of Wisconsin, meaning 353 numbers are assigned across Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Racine, Kenosha, Appleton, and rural counties. Wisconsin's economy is anchored by dairy and agricultural production — the state accounts for approximately 10% of US milk production — alongside a manufacturing base in the Fox Valley, a research and education hub centered on the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Marquette University in Milwaukee, and a large state government and healthcare workforce. This economic profile creates specific fraud targets: agricultural equipment buyers, public benefits recipients, and the state's large student population.
Scam Patterns in 353
BadgerCare Plus / Wisconsin Medicaid Enrollment Fraud
BadgerCare Plus is Wisconsin's Medicaid and CHIP program, administered by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS). The program covers approximately 1.2 million Wisconsinites — roughly 20% of the state's population — including low-income adults, children, and families. Scam texts from 353 numbers impersonate the Wisconsin DHS or county human services offices, claiming that a BadgerCare recipient's coverage is at risk of termination due to a missed annual redetermination, an income change that was not reported, or a billing discrepancy. Recipients are directed to click a link to verify eligibility or make a premium co-payment — harvesting Social Security numbers, Medicaid ID numbers, and banking information. The scam surged following the end of the pandemic-era continuous enrollment protections, which triggered genuine redetermination notices for hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin BadgerCare enrollees, providing cover for fraudulent texts that mimicked real DHS communications.
Wisconsin Dairy and Agricultural Equipment Payment Fraud
Wisconsin's agricultural sector is dominated by dairy farming — family-owned operations managing herds of 50 to 500 cows, purchasing expensive milking equipment, feed systems, and tractors in transactions that routinely reach six figures. Equipment dealers and farm suppliers conduct a significant portion of their business via text and email, and agricultural equipment financing transactions involve multiple parties communicating across phone and email. Scam texts from 353 numbers target dairy farmers and agricultural operators by impersonating equipment dealers, farm credit officers from Compeer Financial or AgriBank (major agricultural lenders in Wisconsin), or farm supply cooperatives. The texts claim that a payment for a recently ordered piece of equipment has been returned, that a loan disbursement requires re-authorization, or that a cooperative dividend distribution requires banking confirmation — directing funds to fraudulent accounts via wire transfer or ACH. Because agricultural equipment transactions legitimately involve large dollar amounts and multiple parties communicating by text, farmers who are in the middle of active purchases are particularly vulnerable.
UW–Madison and Marquette University Student Financial Fraud
The University of Wisconsin–Madison and Marquette University in Milwaukee together enroll over 55,000 students, with additional large populations at UW–Milwaukee, UW–Oshkosh, and other system campuses. Wisconsin's public university students interact with multiple financial systems — federal financial aid, Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board (HEAB) grants for Wisconsin residents, campus bursar billing, and student health insurance. Scam texts from 353 numbers impersonate UW–Madison Student Financial Services, Marquette's Bursar's Office, or HEAB, claiming that a student's Wisconsin Grant or Bucky's Tuition Promise award requires verification before the next disbursement, that an enrollment hold will prevent course registration unless a balance is cleared, or that a federal work-study paycheck has been deposited to the wrong account and requires identity confirmation to redirect. The Wisconsin-specific references to HEAB and Bucky's Tuition Promise make these texts more credible than generic financial aid phishing, as those programs are known to Wisconsin students but not widely recognized by a national scam audience that would typically draft generic federal loan text templates.
VoIP and Spoofing Risk Assessment
Risk Level: HIGH
353 is a 2023 overlay with no legacy landline history, meaning all assigned numbers are mobile or VoIP from inception. As a statewide overlay, 353 numbers carry plausibility across all of Wisconsin's disparate regions — a 353 number is as geographically credible in rural Dane County as in downtown Milwaukee. Wisconsin's BadgerCare redetermination cycle created a period of genuine DHS text communications to hundreds of thousands of recipients, normalizing DHS contact by text and providing an ideal cover environment for impersonation. The agricultural equipment fraud vector is particularly dangerous because large-dollar agricultural transactions from unfamiliar numbers are a normalized business practice in Wisconsin farming communities.
What To Do If You Receive a Text From a 353 Number
Step 1: Verify BadgerCare or any DHS program status through your ACCESS Wisconsin account. Log in at access.wi.gov or call the BadgerCare Plus helpline at 1-800-362-3002. The Wisconsin DHS does not collect premiums or request personal verification through unsolicited text links.
Step 2: Look up the number. Search at Who Sent That Text Message for prior reports on the specific 353 number, including whether it has been flagged for BadgerCare impersonation, agricultural payment fraud, or student financial aid phishing.
Step 3: Verify any equipment or agricultural financing payment through your lender or dealer directly. Call your Compeer Financial or AgriBank loan officer using a number from your original loan documents — not a number provided in a text. See our guide on identifying spoofed text messages.
Step 4: Report. Forward to 7726 (SPAM). Report DHS impersonation and benefits fraud to the Wisconsin DHS fraud hotline at 1-888-335-2279. Report agricultural wire fraud to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. File with the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
Frequently Asked Questions
What area code is 353?
Area code 353 is a Wisconsin-wide overlay added in 2023, covering the entire state alongside existing codes 414 (Milwaukee), 608 (Madison), and 262 (Milwaukee suburbs). Because it is a new overlay, virtually all 353 numbers are mobile or VoIP assignments with no legacy landline history.
Is area code 353 used for scams?
353 is a legitimate Wisconsin area code. Documented fraud patterns in this geography include BadgerCare Plus Medicaid enrollment and redetermination impersonation, dairy and agricultural equipment payment fraud targeting farm operations, and student financial aid phishing targeting UW–Madison and Marquette University students using Wisconsin-specific grant program references. Verify any unknown 353 text requesting payment or personal information before responding.
Why are Wisconsin agricultural equipment transactions particularly vulnerable to payment fraud?
Large-dollar agricultural equipment purchases in Wisconsin routinely involve multiple parties communicating via text and email — dealers, farm credit officers, equipment manufacturers, and cooperative representatives. A transaction for a milking system or tractor may legitimately generate payment-related texts from numbers a farmer does not have saved as contacts. Scammers exploit this multi-party communication norm by inserting fraudulent wire transfer or ACH instructions mid-transaction, when the farmer is already in an active purchasing process and expects to receive payment-related texts from unfamiliar numbers.
Related Area Codes
- 414 — Milwaukee and the immediate city. Wisconsin's original urban code and the state's largest metro area.
- 608 — Madison, southwest Wisconsin, and the state capital region. Home to UW–Madison and state government agencies.
- 262 — Milwaukee suburbs, Waukesha County, Racine, and Kenosha. The Lake Michigan shore corridor between Milwaukee and Chicago.
Carriers & Network Type for 353 Numbers
Network mix: Mixed — 353 numbers include mobile, landline, and VoIP lines.
Common Scam Patterns
FCC complaint data for 353 numbers includes:
- Robocall/Auto-dialer
- Spoofed caller ID
- IRS/Government impersonation
- Tech support scam
If You Got a Text from 353
Who Typically Calls from the 353 Area Code?
Area code 353 serves South Boston/SE Massachusetts, Massachusetts, a major coastal metropolitan area known for high telecommunications density and early adoption of advanced calling services. All major national carriers—AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile USA—operate extensive networks here. Brockton and Quincy are the main hubs, and the area code runs on Eastern time. Calls from 353 numbers originate in South Boston/SE Massachusetts, Massachusetts. Residents, local businesses, schools, medical offices, and government agencies in this region all use 353 numbers. If you received an unexpected call or text from a 353 number, it may be a neighbor, a local service provider, or — in some cases — an unwanted solicitor.
Because 353 is a legitimate, widely used area code, scammers sometimes spoof it to make their calls appear local and trustworthy. This technique — called neighbor spoofing — makes it more likely that recipients will answer. A reverse phone lookup is the fastest way to find out whether a 353 number is genuinely local or spoofed.
Is a 353 Phone Number Spam?
Not all 353 calls are spam, but the area code is not immune to robocall campaigns and phone scams. Common complaints about 353 numbers include warranty extension scams, debt collection harassment, IRS impersonation calls, and unsolicited insurance offers.
If a 353 number called you and didn't leave a voicemail, that's a red flag — legitimate callers typically leave a message. Use Who Sent That Text Message to look up the number instantly and see whether other users have flagged it as spam.
You can also report a suspicious 353 number directly from our lookup results, helping protect others in the community from the same caller.
Look Up a 353 Number Now
Enter any 353 area code phone number below and get instant results — carrier, line type, caller name (where available), and spam reports submitted by real users.
Other Area Codes in Massachusetts
Massachusetts has multiple area codes serving different regions. If the number you received isn't from 353, check one of the other Massachusetts area codes below.