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Friday, April 8, 2011
Phony health department inspectors target local restaurant
WASHINGTON TWP., Montgomery County — A restaurant owner and the Miami Valley Restaurant Association are warning fellow restaurants to beware of a phone scam that involves someone impersonating a health department inspector scheduling an inspection.
The apparent scam artists targeted Bahn Mai Thai in Washington Twp. on Tuesday night, and the restaurant’s owners reported the incident to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday. Investigators in other regions of the country where this scam has occurred believe it is part of a larger fraud to set up bogus account with online auctions such as Craigslist.
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Scott Landis said investigators have tracked the call to California and will work with authorities in that state in an attempt to pinpoint where it came from. Landis said no one should give out personal or financial information over the phone or perform any procedures on the phone requested by a stranger.
Bahn Mai Thai co-owner Judy Silva said she hasn’t seen any suspicious activity in any restaurant accounts, but she’s wary. “I’m waiting for a bill to come,” Silva said.
The scam involves a caller posing as a health inspector requesting to schedule an inspection and gathering information about the business, then giving restaurant employees a unique numerical code and instructing them to confirm that number during a subsequent, usually automated, call. Investigators believe the information and confirmation call are used to set up fake identities via web sites in order to fraudulently sell goods and services on web sites such as Craigslist, according to a warning letter sent out by the Illinois Department of Public Health last August after the scam surfaced there.
Amanda Delotelle, manager of Bahn Mai Thai, told investigators that one of the restaurant’s servers fielded two of the apparent scam calls Tuesday night. The caller “came across as very authoritative, very intimidating,” Delotelle said.
Silva and Delotelle became suspicious, found information about the scam through an internet search and notified the sheriff’s office.
Bill Wharton, spokesman for Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County, said he wasn’t familiar with the scam, but noted that restaurant inspections are unannounced. “We don’t call to schedule inspections,” Wharton said.
Shanon Morgan, president of the Miami Valley Restaurant Association, posted a Facebook page link to a story about the scam that ran in a San Diego news website and said she would take other proactive measure to warn restaurant owners if any other local restaurants are targeted
The scam has also been reported in Chester County, Pennsylvania and in Waynesboro, Georgia.
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TweetTaste of Greene County coming to Nutter
The Taste of Greene County will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 10, at the Wright State University Nutter Center.
The list of participating restaurants, according to the Beavercreek Chamber of Commerce, includes Abuelo’s, Brio Tuscan Grille, Woody’s Barbecue, Packy’s Sports Bar and Grill, Beef O’ Brady’s, ele’ Cake Co., City Barbecue, 4-Starters Coffee Cafe, LaRosa’s, BD’s Mongolian Grill, Great American Grill at the Hilton Garden Inn, Quaker Steak and Lube, Young’s Jersey Dairy, Greene County Career Center Culinary Arts, 10 Wilmington Place, Romeo’s Pizza, McKenna’s at the Holiday Inn, and Salsa’s.
Cost is $18 for adults for advance tickets and $22 at the door. Children over 5 are $6 and children 4 and under are free. Advance tickets can be purchased at the Nutter Center Box Office, at the Beavercreek Chamber of Commerce office at 3299 Kemp Road, or online at Ticketmaster. For more information about the event, call the Beavercreek chamber at (937) 426-2202.
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