County: Restaurant scammers afoot

For the third time in a year, the Allegheny County Health Department is warning restaurants about scammers posing as inspectors, presumably to steal money and other items.

A restaurant chain this month notified the Health Department that more than a dozen of its restaurants were contacted by people claiming to represent the World Health Organization and saying they would come by to conduct an inspection.

"That's a red flag in itself, when someone calls ahead to say they'll be coming for an inspection," said Guillermo Cole, Health Department spokesman. "Restaurants may have call-ahead seating, but we don't have call-ahead inspections."

Officials don't know whether anyone actually showed up at a restaurant to perform an inspection, but Cole said any restaurant manager or worker who is suspicious of someone claiming to be an inspector should call police and the Health Department, at 412-687-ACHD. The department issued similar warnings in November and May.

Cole said authorities assume theft is the motive behind the calls.

"We can only speculate, but once you're inside a place, you could have access to areas a customer normally wouldn't," Cole said.

John Ajay, general manager of Sonoma Grille on Penn Avenue, Downtown, said his restaurant is inspected, on average, twice a year, and always by the same person.

"We know who she is and it's usually a quick in-and-out process," Ajay said. "We stick with her when she's here, and she doesn't gain access to areas where we would have sensitive information, like credit card slips."

Chris Brown, manager at Jerome Bettis' Grille 36 on the North Shore, said he hadn't heard about the scams but would consider a call from an inspector to be a red flag.

"They just show up with their badges," Brown said. "Having them call first would be suspicious to me."

From Bill Fuller, corporate chef with Big Burrito Group:

The Big Burrito Group on Thursday distributed the Health Department notice to its restaurants.

"I would tend to believe that if someone showed up at any of our restaurants and claimed to be an inspector with the World Health Organization, my people would tell them there was no reason for them to be there," said corporate chef Bill Fuller.