Full Notification

Over the past few days, there has been an increase in reports of scammers targeting individuals all across New Jersey. Although we currently do not have any reports of this activity occurring within Denville, we wanted to bring this to the community's attention so that you can better defend yourself or your family members if targeted.

In many of the recent incidents, the scammer contacts their victim and advises them that a family member has been arrested and is need of bail money to avoid being sent to jail. In the past, the bail money has been asked to be sent electronically or over the phone by purchasing and sharing the account and pin numbers of pre-paid gift cards. In some of the recent incidents, one of the perpetrators will actually arrive at your home to collect bail money in the form of cash. Oftentimes, once an initial sum of money is collected, the scammer will attempt to collect additional money from their victim, reporting that there are suddenly additional fees or increased bail amounts that need to be posted.

If you should receive one of these calls, please attempt to contact your family member to confirm they are alright and not in need of bail money (or any other assistance, depending on what the caller is reporting). If you are unable to reach your family member, please contact the police department (973-627-4900 x 9) before following any instructions you were given. Under no circumstances should you provide any personal information to the caller, withdraw any cash from your bank account or purchase pre-paid gift cards to provide to the caller or anyone else reporting to represent the caller.

Don't be afraid to seek the help or advice of other family members. Many times the scammer will ask you to keep this request private and not to discuss it the request with anyone else because your "family member" is embarrassed. This is their way of trying to make sure that no one fills you in on their attempted criminal activity.

The scammers also have a tendency to target the elderly, resulting in the scam also being known as the "grandparent scam". In this instance, the scammers will often pretend to be the victim's grandchild or other relative, using various information obtained off of social media to fool their victim. However, anyone of any age may be targeted.

Please share this information with your family and friends so that we can help put a stop to this criminal activity.