Oakland County Officials Warn Local Restaurants Of Inspection Scams
TROY (WWJ) -- There's a new scam that Oakland County officials want to warn you about, and it targets restaurant and food establishment managers.
This week officials say an Oakland County restaurant received a call from someone claiming to be an inspector and asking for pre-payment for a food inspection. However, that's not how it works says Leigh-Anne Stafford of the Oakland County Health Division.
She says this should never happen, and she wants to make it clear that pre-payment is not required for restaurant inspections. While this has only happened at one location, Stafford wanted to issue a warning to other restaurants in the area.
"At this time we have only been informed of one restaurant but that's why we wanted to get this alert out to everyone so no one else fell victim of this scam," Stafford said.
The Oakland County Health Division reportedly never collects money on site.
Stafford said if you are worried about someone trying to scam your business you should reach out to the health division.
"Pre-payment is not required for restaurant inspections," Stafford said. "So if you are unsure if the call is real, we suggest that you (tell) them 'you know what I'm going to hangup here,' and we suggest that you call our main number to verify if the call is a real call from somebody in the health division."
That phone number for the Oakland County Health Division is 248-858-1312. As Stafford said, feel free to call the number if you have any questions or concerns of a potential scam taking place.