DEKALB COUNTY, GA — The DeKalb County Board of Health is warning local restaurants and businesses about a man accused of posing as a health inspector.

Officials say the man recently visited a restaurant in Brookhaven while pretending to conduct a routine inspection. The Board of Health says the impersonation was done to create content for YouTube.

“He is pretending to be an environmental health specialist and do food inspections,” Marcus Johns, deputy director of Environmental Health in DeKalb County, said.

Johns says incidents like this can undermine confidence in legitimate health inspections.

“Events like this, they kind of erode the trust of food service establishments, and it harms the credibility of our legitimate environmental health specialists,” Johns said.

The Board of Health says the suspect has also posed as a health inspector in other states and appears to be targeting Asian establishments.

Johns says all environmental health specialists in Georgia carry official photo identification.

“All inspectors in the state of Georgia have photo identification, and if there is ever any uncertainty about whether that person is legitimate they should call their local health department,” Johns said.

Officials say impersonating a health inspector is a misdemeanor offense in Georgia. They are urging restaurants and businesses to ask for valid photo identification before allowing anyone claiming to be an inspector to conduct an inspection.

“This is happening not only in just DeKalb, so I think there may be a more coordinated effort from the state office,” Johns said.

WSB Radio’s Sabrina Cupit contributed to this story.