Officials with the Fayette County Health Department are warning area restaurants about a recent inspection scam.
A couple of Lexington restaurants were contacted recently by phone with individuals asking to come out and conduct an inspection. Similar calls in February involved requests for money and personal information about employees. Environmental Health and Protection Manager, Jessica Cobb says this is not how the health department carries out restaurant inspections.
“Nobody has ever shown up at a time that they have designated, so we haven’t seen that end of it yet. And, we’ve told them, of course, if somebody does show up, please contact the police,” said Cobb.
Cobb says it’s not the practice of the health department to alert restaurants of an upcoming inspection. She says this scam information has been passed on to the state.
“We’ve reported this to the state food safety branch because Lexington is not the only area that’s been affected by this. And they’ve also reported it to the attorney general’s office. Hopefully we can help to keep people from falling victim to this,” added Cobb.
Cobb says health department officials aren’t sure if the individuals who made recent calls are the same people who made similar contacts last winter.