March 6, 2026.
Scammers are getting better technology for their email scams. Their professional looking emails with the state logo reporting your business has a "DORA" or "LARA" Violation, are getting past the junk mail filters. The email politely asks if you have received their previous email and signed the requested documents.
People are getting scammed because many scammers are very good at committing crime, in their minds believing it is their job to do so. If you are multi tasking as most business owners or managers have to do it is easier to be fooled into clicking a link or opening a file that will potentially allow a cyber attack to your business because your not taking the time to look at all the details or you may be the type of person that will automatically believe one of your employees may have made a mistake resulting in some penalty. This may result in you replying to an email that should have been deleted. Reminder..always pause ...before taking any action..
Things to look for - Was the email sent outside of normal business hours?
Verify the email addresses, scam emails look very much like the actual state agency email address which is now coded to get through some of the protection filters and land in your inbox. Closer examination with show suspicious additions to the email address that are hard to detect if not paying close attention. They may have an actual employees name listed with a phone number that is very close to being real. Calling the number sometimes solves the problem immediately because the phone number won't work.
Many States Division of Professions and Occupations occasionally receives reports of scam attempts from licensees. These scams usually involve suspicious phone calls or letters saying that the person's license is under investigation and requesting some sort of payment to "clear" the investigation.
To protect yourself, keep the following in mind:
- Should a complaint be filed against your license, you will receive an email notifying you of the complaint and requesting a response. This initial notification will never request a payment.
- While some violations do carry a fine, this fine will be determined by the Regulatory Board or the director following an investigation of a complaint. You will receive notification of a complaint before you will receive any information about a fine being levied.
- Fines issued by the state division or its boards are only payable by check or money order in many states.
- The division will not connect you to the FBI or another agency via a secure line.
- Letters from scammers will often contain misspellings, grammatical errors, and factual errors. If you are contacted by someone attempting one of these scams, you may report it to the State's Office of Attorney General. The easiest thing to do of course is delete the email, or politely ask for a mailed copy of the information, stating that they must have the mailing address on file, never give them your mailing address.
