South Carolina Contractors' Licensing Board

Message To LLR Stakeholders About Regulatory Review Process

ALERT! CSLB Issues Industry Alert Regarding Scam Targeting Licensees and Applicants

CSLB Industry Bulletin - 11/20/2012

Note From S.C. Contractors Licensing Board: Please see important information below received from the California State License Board and the National Association of State Contractors Licensing Agencies regarding a possible scam involving contractors. The South Carolina Contractors' Licensing Board is not aware of this happening in South Carolina, but wants to make sure licensees are aware of the possibility.

SACRAMENTO — The Contractors State License Board (CSLB) is issuing an Industry Alert to all licensees about to renew current licenses or anyone who has either applied for a CSLB license, or plans to apply.

Be careful if anyone contacts you claiming to be from CSLB, or asks for credit card information over the phone for you to renew your license, get continuing education credit, or take a licensing exam. This is a scam!

“We’ve discovered at least one unscrupulous company that’s using information from CSLB’s website to contact licensees or applicants to mislead and scam them,” CSLB Registrar Steve Sands. “The caller leads the licensee or applicant to believe he or she needs to pay money over the phone to get continuing education credit, renew a license or to schedule a licensing exam."

CSLB staff will never ask for credit card information over the phone, nor will they process any payment over the phone. CSLB fees are only payable through the mail via check or at CSLB headquarters via cash, check, or credit card. There are no continuing education requirements to renew a CSLB license. A list of all license fees are available on CSLB’s website.

Business and Professions Code section 7080.5 requires CSLB to make public the name and address of every accepted application for a license, on the day following acceptance, at CSLB’s office in Sacramento. Since technology now permits the electronic posting of these lists, CSLB makes them available on its website. These lists are used by many legitimate companies, including bond companies and license assistance companies.

At this point CSLB will continue to post the applicant lists on its website, but the process could change if applicants continue to be preyed upon by unscrupulous companies.
Click Here to visit the California Contractors State License Board Industry Bulletins website.

If you have any questions or should further information be desired, please contact the South Carolina Contractors’ Licensing Board at (803) 896-4686.