Fake restaurant inspectors have gone viral on social media. How to spot them.
The state department in charge of conducting restaurant safety inspections warned restaurant owners to be wary of people pretending to be health inspectors for social media virality.
At least one North Carolina-based Instagram account has amassed more than 400,000 followers on the social media platform by posting first-person videos filmed inside restaurants after gaining admission by pretending to be a health inspector. The page, @dirtyrestaurantaudits, even has a form for users to suggest which restaurants to visit.
The State reached out to the account through Instagram and did not immediately receive a response.
The S.C. Department of Agriculture, which has overseen restaurant inspections since 2024, when the state legislature split up the health department, said in a Facebook post Thursday that it was aware of the viral videos and warned restaurant owners of the signs of a fake inspection.
“People want to be polite, and they don’t want to impede an investigation so we thought it was a good teaching opportunity [to make the post],” Department Spokesperson Eva Moore told The State. “Our concern is for businesses who might be subjected to this.”
Moore said the department had identified at least two restaurants that had been filmed in South Carolina, one being in Rock Hill. She said the department had reached out to those restaurants after the fact.
Here’s how restaurant inspections work in SC
When conducting a restaurant inspection, inspectors are supposed to introduce themselves and ask to speak to the person in charge. The inspectors will carry a badge issued by the agriculture department and may take photos during the inspection, but will not take videos.
The process differs from that of the viral videos, which depict a man conducting what seems like a “walk through” of dirty restaurants and critiquing various health issues. Most of the videos feature captions or titles like “secret audit” and “this will get people sick.”
The department said in the post that restaurant owners can verify the identity of an inspector by calling the retail food safety team at 803-896-0640.
Real restaurant inspection reports, which include findings from the inspection, can be found on South Carolina’s food grades portal. The portal allows users to search by establishment, address, county or city and to see a PDF copy of individual reports.
The agriculture department typically conducts more than 25,000 routine inspections of South Carolina restaurants, cafeterias, coffee shops and gas station hot dog counters every year. The department tightened enforcement when it took over from the split-up health department.
Prior to the takeover, restaurants had been served warning after warning with little recourse besides fines. The department now temporarily shuts down restaurants with repeated issues.
This story was originally published February 27, 2026 at 2:29 PM.
