Professional & Vocational Licensing Division

Scammers are impersonating state officials and taking the deception one step further by spoofing actual Hawaii board phone numbers on caller ID to make the call more convincing. The scam involves intimidating the licensee into divulging personal information by alleging that he or she is under investigation.

The Professional and Vocational Licensing Division recently received reports of fake calls to a registered nurse using the Board of Nursing’s phone number and to a physician with the Hawaii Medical Board’s number. It is likely scammers will attempt to do this across all industries so all Hawaii licensees should be vigilant.

With any suspicious phone call, licensees are advised to hang up before revealing any personal information and initiate a return phone call by calling a number researched on their own (see https://cca.hawaii.gov/pvl/contact/), rather than relying on the caller ID, to ensure that they are speaking with the actual agency. A professional or vocational licensee that is under investigation by the department would first be notified in writing from the Regulated Industries Complaints Office (RICO). RICO will also never ask for private or sensitive information over the telephone.

Also see DCCA’s previous news releases related to this type of scam:
https://cca.hawaii.gov/blog/release-state-warns-of-new-scam-targeting-licensees/
https://cca.hawaii.gov/blog/release-phone-scam-calls-targeting-licensed-professionals-reported/