The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) wishes to notify the public of a recent scam where callers pose as officers of the FDA who are investigating incidents of food poisoning at food services establishments (restaurants, eateries and other food vendors). Initial reports indicate that the mode of operation of these scammers is to call these food services establishments and demand access to their WhatsApp account to enable them fraudulently gain access to their personal and confidential information such as client databases among others to possibly hack the systems of these vendors and or demand for money. It is instructive to note that the FDA regards incidences of food poisoning as matters of utmost importance in public health, hence it does not conduct its enforcement activities through telephone calls but rather onsite inspections.
To this end, operators of food services establishments are to be cautious of telephone calls purporting to be from FDA staff conducting food poisoning investigations Report suspicious messages and calls to the Police or FDA at its Head Office or any of its Regional Offices nationwide.
Please note that per the code of practice of the FDA, its field officers are not to collect any payments of monies from clients.
For further information, contact the FDA
