Police warn of fake Facebook page claiming to be for Ky. liquor store

RICHMOND, Ky. (WKYT) - A Richmond liquor store is being hit with an internet scam.

According to the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, someone has created a fake Facebook account associated with Derby Liquor.

Derby Liquor store clerk Niki Kapadia showed us a Facebook page that he claims is disguised to look like his liquor store, saying the account is fake.

“We’ve seen the Facebook page as of yesterday. It has almost 5,000 followers, and we have nothing to do with it,” Kapadia said.

Kapadia says the store, located on the Dr. Robert R. Martin Bypass and Merrick Drive, has never had a Facebook account.

“It looks like they are trying to push customers to buy things through shipping and PayPal,” Kapadia said.

Kapadia says the store was notified of the fake account because of customer complaints received by an officer with the state ABC. Customers indicated they placed an order outside of Kentucky and never received the product.

The state ABC says the store does not have a license to do this type of transaction.

“I think some of the items they were trying to sell is distilled spirits, bourbon and stuff like that,” said Richmond Police Chief Rodney Richardson.

The state ABC asked the Richmond Police Department to make the public aware of this scam.

“It’s not a complicated thing to do. It’s not anything we haven’t seen in the past,” said Chief Richardson.

Chief Richardson believes the scammers have copied and pasted pictures from other stores to create this false account.

“As this page grows, it kind of tarnishes us for no reason,” Kapadia said.

We tried to reach out to the state ABC on this investigation and haven’t yet heard back.

Derby Liquor is trying to get the page removed.

Chief Richardson recommends people verify a business’s address and if the information on the page is correct before you purchase anything.

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