404 Area Code

What 404 actually covers

404 is the area code of Atlanta inside the Perimeter, the ring formed by Interstate 285. Downtown, Midtown, Buckhead, the West End, Decatur, East Point, College Park and the airport are all 404 territory, along with the closest-in stretches of Fulton and DeKalb counties.

Since the late 1990s, though, the whole metro has been run as one overlay complex. 770 covers the suburbs outside the Perimeter, from Marietta and Alpharetta to Lawrenceville and Jonesboro, and three more codes, 678, 470 and 943, are overlaid on both 404 and 770 together. So a Sandy Springs office can hold a 678 number, a Buckhead condo can hold a 470, and every local call in the metro is dialled with ten digits.

The practical reading: a 404 number is almost always an older line inside the Perimeter. A recent Atlanta mobile is far more likely to be 470 or 943.

How 404 got here

• 1947: 404 was one of the original area codes and covered the entire state of Georgia.
• 1954: the southern half of the state was split off as 912.
• 1992: north and west Georgia outside the metro became 706. Several fast-growing exurbs that had been moved to 706 complained about losing their Atlanta identity, and in spring 1993 BellSouth moved them back into 404.
• August 1995: the suburbs were split off as 770, leaving 404 with the city inside I-285.
• 1998: 678 was overlaid on both codes, the first overlay in Georgia.
• 2010: 470 joined the overlay, followed by 943 in the early 2020s.

That 1993 episode says something about the code: Atlantans have wanted a 404 number for a long time. Businesses, law firms, the hospitals, the universities and the older neighbourhoods carry it, and a 404 caller ID reads as "in the city". It is also why 404 gets spoofed more than the newer metro codes.

What a real 404 caller usually looks like

• Landline on an established carrier is the expected result for the courts, city and county offices, Grady and Emory hospitals, Georgia Tech, Georgia State, the airport and the downtown and Midtown offices.
• Mobile 404 numbers are common. Cell phones carried 404 for years before the overlays took most new assignments, so a mobile result on its own is neutral.
• VoIP results deserve a closer look. Atlanta is a large call-centre and logistics market and has plenty of legitimate cloud phone lines, but a VoIP line with an unfamiliar reseller claiming to be a court or a utility is the signature of a spoofed call.
• Ported is frequent because the metro has changed codes and because people move in and out with their numbers.

The line type does not identify the caller, but it tells you whether the caller's story fits.

Scams that use 404 caller IDs

Federal jury duty calls. The federal court for the Northern District of Georgia, which sits in downtown Atlanta, has posted repeated alerts about callers who claim the target missed federal jury duty, has a warrant, and can avoid arrest by paying, typically by buying a Green Dot or gift card and reading off the number. The calls use real judges' names, real court addresses and details about the victim, and spoof the caller ID to show a real court number, including the court's own 404-215-1600 line. Courts send jury summonses by mail and never take payment by phone.

Sheriff and police impersonation. The same script is run under the names of the Fulton County Sheriff, DeKalb County police and the Atlanta Police Department, with a spoofed station number and a "warrant" to clear. No Georgia law enforcement agency collects fines or bonds by phone or by prepaid card.

Georgia Power disconnection threats. The utility has warned throughout 2025 about callers threatening to cut power unless immediate payment is made, and about "billing update" calls designed to harvest account and card details. Georgia Power does not demand instant payment by phone and does not call to collect card numbers. Hang up and call the number on your bill.

Peach Pass toll texts. In March 2025 the FBI's complaint centre logged more than 1,500 reports in two weeks about texts claiming unpaid Georgia tolls, more than in the previous fourteen months combined. The Georgia Attorney General's office states that Peach Pass does not text about unpaid tolls. A related version impersonates the Department of Driver Services and threatens licence suspension. Neither agency requests payment by text.

Medicare calls to seniors. The Georgia Attorney General's consumer division lists Medicare impersonation as a standing problem: callers ask seniors to "confirm" their Medicare or Social Security number for a new card, a benefit package or a back brace. Medicare does not call to ask for your number, and AI voice cloning has made the follow-up "family emergency" call convincing enough that some families now agree a private code word.

Airline customer service calls. With the world's busiest airport and a major airline headquartered in the city, calls and search-ad "help lines" posing as airline agents are a local hazard: the fake agent handles a cancellation or rebooking and asks for payment by gift card. Airlines never take payment by gift card, and their genuine numbers are on the boarding pass and the official app.

Neighbour spoofing. Robocall operations display a 404 number sharing your first six digits so the call looks local. The number shown usually belongs to an unrelated resident, which is why some 404 numbers collect reports from people who were never actually called by them.

How to check a 404 number

1. Enter the ten-digit number in the panel at the top of this page. The 404 is already filled in.
2. Compare the line type and carrier with what the caller claimed. Courts, utilities and agencies call from established landlines, not VoIP resellers.
3. Read the risk level and community reports. Several "scam" or "robocall" reports within days of each other mark a live campaign.
4. Still unsure? Unlock the risk details for the fraud score and abuse history, or call the organisation back on the number printed on its official site or your bill.

Where to report a 404 scam call

• Georgia Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division: 404-651-8600 in metro Atlanta, 1-800-869-1123 elsewhere in Georgia, or the online complaint form at consumer.georgia.gov.
• FBI Atlanta: ic3.gov for jury duty, warrant and toll scams where money or data changed hands.
• Northern District of Georgia court: its juror scam alert page explains how to verify a summons.
• Georgia Power: the customer service number on your bill to report a utility impersonation call.
• Federal Trade Commission: reportfraud.ftc.gov. Reports feed the complaint data carriers use to block robocallers.
• CallerTracer: report the number on the Who Called Me page or straight from a lookup result. It shows on this page and on every lookup of that number within minutes.

Frequently asked questions

Is 404 all of Atlanta?

404 was limited to the city inside I-285 in 1995, with 770 for the suburbs. Since 1998 the overlays 678, 470 and 943 cover both, so any metro address can hold any of the five codes. An older inside-the-Perimeter line is still most likely to be 404.

Are new 404 numbers still issued?

Rarely. Most new lines anywhere in the metro come out as 470 or 943, which is why a 404 number usually means an established business or a long-time resident.

Does a 404 number mean the caller is in Atlanta?

Only that the number was issued there. Mobile and VoIP numbers move with their owners, and a spoofed call can show any number at all. Use the carrier and line type from a lookup, not the area code, to judge where a call came from.

What time zone is 404?

Eastern Time, with daylight saving from March to November. The clock at the top of this page shows the current time in Atlanta.

Which area codes are next to 404?

770, 678, 470 and 943 cover the same metro. 706 and 762 surround it to the north and west, 478 is Macon to the south, and 912 is Savannah and the coast.