Crime & Safety
Hoboken Police Warn Of Phone Scammers Impersonating Them
The callers use a 201 number and claim they are the Hoboken police. As with the 'virtual kidnapping' scheme, don't fall for it.
HOBOKEN, NJ — You may have already gotten wise to phone scams asking you about your car warranty, or the ones that show up as APPLE on your phone when they're not. And then there's the more frightening "virtual kidnapping" scam in which the person claims to have kidnapped your relative and wants ransom money.
But lately, Hoboken residents have gotten a call that was more convincing.
The Hoboken Police Department on Friday sent out an alert to residents saying, "Anyone receiving a call from (201) 590-4685 where the caller alleges be a member the Hoboken Police Department should disregard the call as a scam. It is not a legitimate number and the matter is being investigated."
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This call may be particularly convincing because it looks like a local number. (New Jersey, incidentally, was the first state to get an area code in 1947, hence the low 201 number. You can thank Bell Telephone.)
Anyone with information about the scam should contact Detective E. Lepre at (201) 420-2100, ext. 3051.
Find out what's happening in Hobokenfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
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