Police Director Alphonse Petracco and Chief Thomas Strumolo are releasing a joint statement regarding suspicious phone calls.
Police Chief Strumolo stated that on January 17th the Nutley Police Department received several reports from residents believing an officer attempted to contact them from this number. After determining the officers did not make the call, it appears the residents were “SPOOFED.” It is unclear the motive, possibly the beginning of a fraud however these residents contacted police and learned of the attempt. Chief Strumolo said there are phone applications available that will disguise the caller’s number and allow them to put any number/name they wish for the receiver to see in this case the residents observed Nutley Police on their ID and believed the call to be credible. In all incidents, the resident was advised to contact Officer “XYZ” at a number that was not Nutley Police. At this time these calls remain under investigation.
Director Petracco said there are people out there that are very clever at leading innocent people to believe what they want them to however, they will take any and everything you have so please be cautious and call police directly at 973-284-4940 to determine validity of any unknown caller.
