Cape area experiences second round of fraudulent telephone calls to restaurants

The culprit in a telephone scam that affected local restaurants earlier this month -- the second time since November -- remains unknown to area authorities, who said last week they were never called to investigate the incident.

Amy Morris, supervisor of the environmental department at Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, said whoever was making fraudulent phone calls this month was targeting Chinese and other ethnic restaurants.

The scam involves someone posing as a fake health official, she said. But since warning county restaurants via a memo about the scam that had surfaced locally, county health center hasn't received any additional complaints, Morris said last week.

"We're not really sure what to do with them," Morris said of the phone calls. "We're not really sure what law is broken. These restaurants aren't out any money, I don't think."

The scam begins with a short phone call from someone claiming to be a state restaurant health inspector who wants to set up an inspection date, according to the county health center. In a second phone call, a computerized voice asks the restaurant to enter a set of numbers, their establishment's phone number, to validate the inspection.

Morris said the scam artist then uses the phone number to open up an account on the website Craigslist, ultimately to engage in more fraudulent activity.

The county health center and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services do not require restaurant personnel to provide a number during inspections.

A few local restaurants, including O'Charley's in Cape Girardeau, received the same phone calls in November. Morris said they reported the incident to Cape Girardeau authorities then, but not when the scam hit restaurants this month.

"We've taken the investigation as far as we can take it," she said. "We don't know who these people are. There was a call-back number, but it's not a working number."

Jackson Police Department Sgt. Scott Eakers said no restaurants in the city filed a report this month, complaining of being a target of the phone scam.

"I was kind of wondering why they didn't," he said. "And we'd have to wait for them to call us."

Although Morris recalled reported the November incident to police, Darin Hickey, spokesman for the Cape Girardeau Police Department, said recently there were no reports filed with his department. There are no reports from the health center or from O'Charley's, he said.

"What constitutes a crime is that a state statute was violated. If they're not out of money and there's no loss of any kind, I'm not sure there'd be a criminal complaint there," Hickey said. "We notified officers these were going on so officers could make sure to warn businesses, but there are no reports."

Jacqueline Lapine, communications director with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, said Missourians should remember not to provide any personal information over the phone unless they've initiated the contact and know who they're speaking with.

She said the Department of Health and Senior Services encourages people to contact their local law enforcement agency if they believe they were the target of a scam.

ehevern@semissourian.com

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