Arkansas nursing board warns nurses about phone scammers impersonating agency

The Arkansas State Board of Nursing warned that scammers are calling nurses while posing as board representatives and asking for personal information "for the sake of verifying licensure," the board said.

The board said it has received "several reports of calls made to nurses asking them to provide personal information for the sake of verifying licensure" and that scammers often try to create urgency, telling nurses "they're in trouble, there's an investigation, there's something wrong with their license." The board urged nurses not to comply with such requests.

"The Arkansas Nursing Board says they will never reach out through unsolicited phone calls," the statement said, and added that if the board needs to contact a licensee it will do so "through the nurse portal." The guidance is aimed at preventing disclosure of personal details to imposters and reducing successful fraud attempts.

The advisory did not specify how many reports the board received or provide examples of the phone numbers used by scammers. Nurses who receive suspicious calls were told to report them to the board through the nurse portal and to avoid sharing identifying or financial information by phone.

The board's statement concluded by reiterating that official communications about licensure or investigations will come through established channels rather than unsolicited telephone calls.