Guest blog by Katie Kuehner, D.O.
As a practicing physician, I never imagined that my professional life could be upended by a single phone call. On July 22, 2025, everything changed when I received a terrifying call from someone claiming to be Investigator Jason Hayes, badge number BR7474786 and Chief Investigator #3, from the Iowa Board of Medicine. He informed me that drugs and narcotics had been seized at the Texas-Mexico border, directly linked to my name, my medical license, my NPI, and multiple bank accounts across states. The accusations were grave: five counts of federal drug trafficking under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a) and four counts of federal money laundering, all involving interstate and international borders. He declared my license suspended effective immediately, with an active FBI arrest warrant issued and all my bank accounts frozen. I knew I was innocent—likely framed or a victim of identity fraud—but the panic was overwhelming. My heart and thoughts raced. As a doctor, my license is everything; without it, I can't treat patients, support my family, or pursue the career I've built over years. The fear of arrest, extradition to Texas, and total ruin was paralyzing.
Jason positioned himself as my advocate, saying the Iowa board believed in my innocence, but the FBI in Texas, under Officer Diaz, was reviewing his report and saw me as the primary and only plausible suspect. He urged me to cooperate as a witness to "pause the case" and apprehend the real perpetrator, warning that refusal would lead to immediate arrest. Citing the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. § 552a), he forbade me from discussing this with anyone—family, colleagues, or otherwise—under threat of severe financial penalties and jail time. He claimed I'd been under FBI surveillance for at least 15 days, leaving me feeling even more scared and paranoid. I felt completely isolated and trapped.
To substantiate his claims, he directed me to retrieve faxed documents from a local UPS Store in Des Moines. With shaking hands, I rushed there and picked up what appeared to be official papers. The first was a Temporary Suspension Notice from the Iowa Board of Medicine, dated July 22, 2025, under Investigation No. SA-INV-CRF-007598-IA25 and Case No. CRF-007598-IA25. It stated my license was suspended for violations of 21 U.S.C. § 841 (federal drug trafficking) and Iowa Code § 124.401 (state-controlled substances law), prohibiting practice until restoration via authorization from a concerned department under 18 U.S.C. § 3142(c). The letter was signed by Jason Hayes (Officer in Charge, phone 515-281-5171) and Joyce V. Vista-Wayne, M.D., Chair, and bore official-looking seals and letterhead. The terror escalated.
The second document was a federal bond and protocol agreement from the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, Form No. FOIA-OCD-2025-0722, Ref: FOIA-OCD-2025-0722, dated July 22, 2025. It designated me as the "Supplicant" or cooperating witness in a FOIA request from the Iowa board regarding Title 21 United States Code (USC) Controlled Substances Act for case #SA-CRF-007598-IA25. The protocols required no disclosure to third parties, communication only via secured lines, not leaving the state, no use of my license for new operations, daily updates, and submission of a refundable federal bond of $19,747 under Title 15 U.S.C. § 694b via international wire transfer through the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), as my finances were "flagged." It promised a refund of the federal bond money within 10 business days upon compliance, but violations could result in fines up to $500,000 or imprisonment under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 or the Information Act 1982, Section 1864. It was signed by Derek S. Maltz in Springfield, Va., included space for my signature, and stressed urgency: DOJ approval reports were due in 20 to 30 minutes, or arrest would ensue. The scammer explained that an extortion petition had been filed that day with the DOJ to pause the case, after the FBI denied the board's initial request, granting permission to use me as a cooperator to extend the investigation. My rights as a cooperator included adhering to protocol, constant availability, reporting suspicious tasks, and board legal representation—but silence was mandatory.
During the calls, I frantically jotted notes: the threats, the urgency, the gag order. Jason assured me that he wouldn't allow the FBI to arrest me and that the board was backing me in FBI discussions. If the DOJ didn't approve of my cooperation, jail would be inevitable. The FBI in Texas had sought my arrest that day but notified the board, who secured DOJ sanctions instead. Without finding the real culprit, there was no alternative. The dread was all-consuming—I pictured being handcuffed, my career obliterated, my family broken. As physicians, we're trained to remain composed in crises, but this assault on my identity was devastating.
I’m not sure what happened next, but something made me question it all. Thankfully, I had a moment of pause amidst the fear. I live in Des Moines, and the Iowa Board of Medicine administrative office is only minutes from my home. I drove there. I walked in, shaking, and told the front desk what was happening. They immediately got someone from the board. I told “Jason” I was at the board, and I’d call him back. He started yelling at me, telling me I was compromising everything, and warning me I needed to leave there immediately, or I would go to jail. I knew that couldn’t be right. I was pacing and shaking while I waited for someone from the board to arrive. Once they did, it was confirmed quickly that this was a scam. That day and in the days that followed, the board went above and beyond to reach out to me personally to ensure I was okay. Their reassurances calmed me and helped me feel confident it was all behind me.
Two months later, on Sept. 22, 2025, I recognized this as nothing more than an elaborate, sophisticated scam, but it felt utterly real at the time. I’ve learned so much through all of this. The worst thing I’ve realized in the vulnerability of being scammed is that this isn’t an isolated event, it hasn’t just happened to me. Physicians are prime targets for impersonation scams due to our public licenses and profiles, making us vulnerable to threats of revocation or legal peril. This incident mirrors broader patterns in healthcare fraud, where scammers impersonate officials from medical boards, the FBI, DEA, or CMS to extract information or payments. They exploit publicly accessible data like licenses and NPIs to craft believable stories of investigations, complete with forged documents referencing real laws and invented case numbers.
My experience exemplifies the surge in regulatory scams targeting providers in 2025. Tactics like threats of suspension and arrest are rampant in DEA impersonation schemes, where fraudsters allege illegal prescribing or trafficking to demand compliance. Demands for atypical payments, like my "federal bond" via wire transfer, are classic red flags—genuine agencies never require such. The urgency, gag orders under privacy laws, and use of neutral pickup spots like UPS enhance perceived legitimacy, but these are again red flags and not required from genuine agencies.
Trends show alarming growth: The FTC reports a four-fold increase in older adults losing $10,000+ to impersonation scams since 2020, with losses over $100,000 rising eight-fold from $55 million to $445 million by 2024. While not physician-specific, healthcare faces heightened risks, with phishing up 167% in advanced email attacks, and business email compromise surging 279% in 2023, averaging $135,000 in losses. The 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown charged 324 defendants in schemes totaling over $14.6 billion, illustrating the environment fostering these scams.
Red flags in my case included unsolicited alarming contacts—real agencies notify via official letters or in-person, not calls. Use of accurate personal details from public sources, privacy act prohibitions on verification, unconventional payments, emotional manipulation through surveillance threats, and document inconsistencies like mismatched numbers or odd terms ("Supplicant") should all be suspicious for fraud.
To prevent this, verify independently using official contacts. Never provide numbers, and don’t trust caller ID, as this is also easily forged. Report suspicious activity to the FTC, FBI, or state boards immediately. For me, contacting the Iowa Board in real time was the best thing I did. Other prevention tactics include training staff on the threat of scams, using multi-factor authentication when available, and consulting/confirming any given information with local resources. As physicians, our prescriptive authority and presence of public profiles make us targets, but our awareness and vigilance will protect us. This ordeal shook me but strengthened my resolve. I urge fellow physicians to learn from me, and if anyone ever tells you it's too urgent to confirm, it's a scam.
A note from the Iowa Board of Medicine: Please call us anytime to confirm the legitimacy of a notice you receive at 515.281.7088 or 515.725.2183. We never send official documents to a third-party location like a UPS store, and any payments legitimately owed are never demanded within hours. We are grateful that Dr. Kuehner checked with us, and thank her for sharing her story.