Text telling teens to ‘RUN AWAY FROM HOME’ not from real police

SADDLE RIVER — If teenagers in town were wondering why the police were texting them to run away from home, it's because they weren't.

The Saddle River Police Department took to Facebook to dispel the text that "some juvenile girls have received." The text, which claims to be from the police department, but connects to a number not in service, tells recipients to "STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND RUN AWAY FROM HOME" because "bad pleople (sic) are after you."  Those that get the message were told to call the number once they have run away.

"Please speak with your children about this message and how to treat other strange messages in the future," the actual police department said in their own message.

The post was put up Monday night and by Tuesday afternoon it had been shared more than 200 times. While some people expressed concern, most did not take it seriously.

"Unreal. Sick people in this world," one commenter said. "Are people actually falling for this," asked another. Noting that the text misspelled people one commenter said that whoever sent it "didn't make it to the spelling bee."