973 Area Code — North New Jersey, New Jersey
Reviewed by Jordan Lee, Digital Safety Researcher — Last updated January 2026
About the 973 Area Code
Area code 973 serves North New Jersey, New Jersey, a major coastal metropolitan area known for high telecommunications density and early adoption of advanced calling services. All major national carriers—AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile USA—operate extensive networks here. Newark, Paterson, and Passaic are the main hubs, and the area code runs on Eastern time.
Key Information
- Region: North New Jersey
- State / Province: New Jersey
- Timezone: Eastern
- Major Cities: Newark, Paterson, Passaic
Area Code Overview
Area code 973 was created in 1997 when it split from 201, taking the northern and western portions of New Jersey — Newark, Paterson, Passaic, East Orange, Clifton, Morristown, and Parsippany-Troy Hills. Newark Liberty International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the United States, sits entirely within 973 territory and generates enormous legitimate texting volume from airlines, ground transport, and parking operators. Morris County, in the western portion of the code, is anchored by a dense pharmaceutical and life sciences corridor — Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, Honeywell, and Cognizant all maintain major campuses in or near Parsippany and Morristown.
Scam Patterns in 973
Newark Airport Disruption and Ground Transportation Fraud
Passengers departing or arriving through Newark Liberty receive targeted texts claiming flight gate changes, delayed baggage notifications, or rideshare pickup issues — prompting clicks on links that harvest credit card and travel account credentials. A specific variant targets prepaid parking customers with fake "lot closure" notifications requiring card re-entry to hold a reservation. The airport's high daily passenger volume and routine delay patterns make these texts unusually convincing.
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Employee Credential Phishing
Morris County's dense life sciences corridor creates a specific workforce fraud pattern: texts impersonating corporate IT, SAP system administrators, or HR platforms claim that employee portals, VPN certificates, or benefits enrollment access will expire without immediate verification. These messages specifically target pharmaceutical professionals with access to intellectual property, clinical trial data, and regulatory submission systems — a higher-value credential target than general corporate employees.
NJ Motor Vehicle Commission Appointment Broker Scams
New Jersey's Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) is notorious for overbooked appointment availability. Scammers exploit this by texting 973 residents with offers to sell "held" MVC appointment slots for driver's license renewals, vehicle titles, and REAL ID applications — collecting payment via Venmo or CashApp, then providing no appointment or a fake confirmation code that the MVC has no record of.
VoIP and Spoofing Risk Assessment
Risk Level: HIGH
973's airport adjacency and pharmaceutical employer concentration create two distinct high-value fraud vectors that scammers deliberately exploit with VoIP 973 numbers. The airport disruption scam is industrialized — fraud rings monitor real-time flight data from FlightAware and generate contextually accurate texts synchronized with actual flight delays, making them nearly indistinguishable from legitimate carrier alerts. The pharmaceutical credential vector is highly targeted and financially motivated by IP theft rather than small-dollar fraud.
What To Do If You Receive a Text From a 973 Number
Step 1: Verify flight status and parking directly through the airline or vendor app. Never click a link in a flight disruption or parking text. Check your airline's official app or website. Parking lot contacts can be found in your original booking confirmation.
Step 2: Look up the number. Search at Who Sent That Text Message to check for prior reports, especially if the text references airport services, corporate IT, or MVC appointments.
Step 3: Verify MVC appointment availability at the official state portal. New Jersey's MVC appointment system is at mymvc.nj.gov — no third party can legitimately hold or sell NJ MVC appointment slots. Report any such offer to the NJ Division of Consumer Affairs.
Step 4: Report. Forward to 7726 (SPAM). Report airport-related fraud to the TSA at tsa.gov/contact. File with the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov and the NJ Division of Consumer Affairs at njconsumeraffairs.gov.
Frequently Asked Questions
What area code is 973?
Area code 973 serves northern and central-western New Jersey, including Newark, Paterson, Clifton, East Orange, Morristown, and Parsippany. It was created in 1997 as a split from 201 and shares territory with overlay 862.
Is area code 973 used for scams?
973 is a legitimate North Jersey area code used by millions of residents, Newark Liberty Airport's transport and hospitality ecosystem, and major pharmaceutical employers. Scam patterns include airport disruption fraud, pharmaceutical employee credential phishing, and NJ MVC appointment broker scams. Any 973 text involving flight alerts, corporate IT access, or government appointment slots warrants verification.
Why are Newark Airport disruption texts harder to detect than other travel scams?
Scammers monitoring live flight tracking data can generate texts that reference real flight numbers, real delay durations, and real gate changes — arriving at exactly the moment a traveler would expect an update. This contextual accuracy makes airport disruption texts among the most convincing fraud vectors in the northeast travel corridor, where volume and delay frequency are both high.
Related Area Codes
- 862 — The 2001 overlay for 973 territory; newer numbers in Newark and Morris County may carry 862.
- 201 — Northern NJ (Jersey City, Hoboken, Bergen County). The original code that 973 split from in 1997.
- 908 — Central-West NJ (Elizabeth, Plainfield). A neighboring New Jersey code with different industrial and port-adjacent fraud patterns.
Carriers & Network Type for 973 Numbers
Network mix: Mixed — 973 numbers include mobile, landline, and VoIP lines.
Common Scam Patterns
FCC complaint data for 973 numbers includes:
- Robocall/Auto-dialer
- Spoofed caller ID
- IRS/Government impersonation
- Tech support scam
If You Got a Text from 973
Who Typically Calls from the 973 Area Code?
Area code 973 serves North New Jersey, New Jersey, a major coastal metropolitan area known for high telecommunications density and early adoption of advanced calling services. All major national carriers—AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile USA—operate extensive networks here. Newark, Paterson, and Passaic are the main hubs, and the area code runs on Eastern time. Calls from 973 numbers originate in North New Jersey, New Jersey. Residents, local businesses, schools, medical offices, and government agencies in this region all use 973 numbers. If you received an unexpected call or text from a 973 number, it may be a neighbor, a local service provider, or — in some cases — an unwanted solicitor.
Because 973 is a legitimate, widely used area code, scammers sometimes spoof it to make their calls appear local and trustworthy. This technique — called neighbor spoofing — makes it more likely that recipients will answer. A reverse phone lookup is the fastest way to find out whether a 973 number is genuinely local or spoofed.
Is a 973 Phone Number Spam?
Not all 973 calls are spam, but the area code is not immune to robocall campaigns and phone scams. Common complaints about 973 numbers include warranty extension scams, debt collection harassment, IRS impersonation calls, and unsolicited insurance offers.
If a 973 number called you and didn't leave a voicemail, that's a red flag — legitimate callers typically leave a message. Use Who Sent That Text Message to look up the number instantly and see whether other users have flagged it as spam.
You can also report a suspicious 973 number directly from our lookup results, helping protect others in the community from the same caller.
Look Up a 973 Number Now
Enter any 973 area code phone number below and get instant results — carrier, line type, caller name (where available), and spam reports submitted by real users.
Other Area Codes in New Jersey
New Jersey has multiple area codes serving different regions. If the number you received isn't from 973, check one of the other New Jersey area codes below.
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