WARNING — Scammers spoof Nutley PD’s phone number on Caller ID while making menacing phone calls to residents, department says

Petracco Observer file photo

There are scams — and then there are scams where the scammers really have a brass set. This one takes the cake for that. And because of it, residents need to be hyper aware of what’s going on.

The Nutley Police Department says scammers have been calling township residents recently with the Caller ID spoofed to make it seem as if the incoming call is coming from the Nutley Police Department’s main phone number.

Thing is, no one from the Nutley PD is actually making these calls — it’s all a bunch of scammers.

The scammers call and identify themselves as “officers” from the “police department.”

Several residents were weary of the calls they got and contacted the PD. Fortunately. But there’s no telling how many people got the phone calls and fell for it.

In all the calls, residents were advised to contact officers at a phone number not owned or operated by the Nutley PD.

“There are people out there who are very clever at leading innocent people to believe what they want them to; however, they will take everything you have,” Police Commissioner Alphonse Petracco said. “So please be cautious and call police directly at (973) 284-4940 to determine the validity of any unknown callers.”

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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.