Two Bellingham businesses may have been scammed by a fraudulent paving operation, according to a Bellingham Police Department press release.

On June 16, an asphalt company contacted the Soy House, a restaurant at 400 W. Holly Street, and offered to improve their parking lot with leftover asphalt from a nearby project.

After agreeing on a price, the company brought trucks and worked on the parking lot for about two hours. Before completing the work, the man in charge demanded several thousand dollars and led Soy House to believe they would come back to finish the job.

The man demanded the check be made out to him, rather than the name of the business on the trucks.

The paving company did not return and the value of their work was “not even close to matching the amount paid by the victim business,” according to the press release.

The Bellingham Police Department received a report of another business being scammed in a similar way. This time, the man in charge said he had asphalt leftover from work at the Soy House.

Most of the asphalt trucks used had an “I-5 Paving” graphic, and at least one had an Oregon license plate.