FOR CONSUMER AGENCIES, STATE AGENCIES, AND REGULATORS
Practical fraud resources for public-service work
Consumer agencies, state agencies, and regulators often hear from people when a suspicious real estate message, payment request, property contact, or post-closing solicitation falls outside a familiar complaint path.
Home Fraud Defense maintains public education pages and practical tools your organization can review and link to at no cost. The resources explain common patterns, point people toward appropriate reporting channels, and state their limits plainly.
Start the conversation
86%want training required
New national survey · NORC AmeriSpeak® · August 2026
Recent buyers and sellers want fraud-recognition training required.
64% encountered suspicious communications. 59% said fraud was not discussed—or they could not recall it.
01Public education pages with no account or email gate.
02A state-by-state reporting directory for staff and consumers.
03Free tools that describe suspicious-message patterns and public contact or property signals without claiming to verify identity or fraud.
04Fraud notices licensed agents can send to clients without a paid account.
05Dated fraud alerts written for professionals and suitable to forward to consumers.
The public-resource offer
No fee or partnership required.
Your organization may link to the public resources without a contract, data-sharing arrangement, exclusivity, or endorsement.
Reprinting or adapting material should preserve its safety limitations and source context. Contact us if you need an accessible file or state-specific review.
Public resources
What people can use now
These resources are available without a purchase. Where a tool has an anonymous-use limit, that limit is stated below.
Plain-language information about schemes that can follow a closing, organized for buyers, sellers, and homeowners, with practical first steps such as recorder alerts and USPS Informed Delivery.
A state-by-state starting point for reporting real estate fraud and related exploitation, including state and federal channels. Reporting responsibilities vary by matter and jurisdiction.
A consumer-facing notice about wire redirection, spoofed communications, unexpected signature requests, fake listings, and deed or title fraud. It emphasizes confirming money instructions through a known, independently obtained number.
A two-page notice for families of older homeowners about romance and investment schemes that lead to requests involving a deed, loan, or sale. It points readers to national and state reporting resources.
A consumer can submit a suspicious message and receive possible pattern matches and questions to verify independently.Anonymous use is limited to ten scans per day. The scanner does not determine that a message is fraudulent or legitimate.
Shows available public or third-party data associated with a phone number, email address, or property before someone responds to an approach.Results are descriptive signals, not identity verification, a background check, or proof of fraud.
Public agencies need material that does not overstate what a tool or educational page can establish.
ReferralsWe do not refer consumers to specific licensees and take no compensation for consumer contacts.
Agency namesWe do not state or imply that any agency approves, endorses, or stands behind our material.
Wire instructionsNo tool scans, confirms, or validates wire instructions, and we are never a party of record on a wire.
IdentityNo tool confirms who a person is. Everything is written to describe, not to decide.
Consumer dataThe listed public education pages have no email gate. Tool submissions are processed to return the requested result; Home Fraud Defense does not sell consumer information.
OutcomesNothing we publish claims to prevent a loss or promises a result, and none of it is legal advice.
Why this helps
Support for the gap after a transaction
A closing puts a name, an address, a lender, and a dollar figure into the public record on a known date. What follows is a run of targeted approaches: deed and title schemes, fake lender and servicer contacts, solicitations dressed up as government notices, and long running exploitation aimed at owners who now show as having equity.
That stretch is not a license law matter and it is not a licensee duty. It does not produce complaints to a real estate agency, because nothing a licensee did caused it. But the agent is the one person who knows the consumer and knows the closing date.
Education can help consumers recognize that period before an unexpected contact arrives, while preserving the distinct roles of agencies, regulators, law enforcement, and licensees.
Education credentials
If your agency is reviewing training
The consumer resources stand alone and need nothing from us. For agencies that ask about coursework, here is the current state of it.
Arizona courseA three-hour real estate fraud course approved for Arizona continuing education through the Arizona Department of Real Estate.
Distance learningCoursework is developed by an ARELLO/IDECC Certified Distance Education Instructor.
Other statesContinuing education is offered only where that state has separately approved it. We are working through approvals state by state and will not claim credit anywhere it does not exist.
CredentialHFDCP™. Private credential. Not a state license. It is never presented to consumers as a government designation.
Custom consulting and jurisdictions
For agencies and associations
The public resources above remain available without a consulting engagement. Organizations that need dedicated review, custom deliverables, or training can separately explore professional services.
Fraud Program Consulting →Custom content development, gap analysis, and system-integration planning for agencies that need dedicated time and custom deliverables.
For ARELLO Members →A short briefing for ARELLO and member-jurisdiction review covering public resources, alerts, education, and clear non-endorsement boundaries.
Evidence in context
Selected national reporting
Nearly 1 in 4
Homebuyers who received fraudulent or suspicious communications during closing.
CertifID, 2026 State of Wire Fraud Report (22 percent). NAR reports the same data as more than 1 in 5.
$275.1M
Reported losses across 12,368 complaints in the real estate category, nationwide.
FBI IC3, 2025. The FBI category also includes rental and timeshare fraud. Not a single state figure.
$3.04B
Total United States business email compromise losses, all industries.
FBI IC3, 2025 business email compromise reporting.
These figures describe reported national experience and losses; they do not establish the prevalence of fraud in a particular state or prove that any individual communication is fraudulent. The FBI real-estate category includes rental and timeshare matters, and reported losses do not measure all attempted or unreported fraud.
Organization
Who maintains the resources
Home Fraud Defense was built by a working licensee after a transaction involving a forged deed. It is run as a fraud education school, not as a technology vendor.
School licenseApproved real estate fraud education school, Arizona Department of Real Estate, License S25-0019
ARELLOAffiliate Member; coursework is developed by an ARELLO/IDECC Certified Distance Education Instructor. Membership and instructor certification do not mean ARELLO endorses these resources.
State listingListed on azre.gov under Consumer Fraud Resources
TeachingFraud instructor for the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys' Advisory Council, and guest lecturer at the ASU W. P. Carey School of Business
MembershipsAssociation of Certified Fraud Examiners, and International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators. Both are memberships, not certifications.
FounderJohn Rowan, licensed Arizona agent, 25 plus years in the real estate industry, former federal GSA fraud mitigation contractor
Continue the review
Tell us what would help the people you serve
If a public resource needs clearer language, a different format, or better state context, send us the need. We can review it without creating an endorsement or formal partnership.
Home Fraud Defense LLC, 7865 W Bell Road #1070, Peoria, AZ 85382. Approved real estate fraud education school, Arizona Department of Real Estate #S25-0019. Home Fraud Defense serves consumers and licensed professionals nationwide; laws, reporting agencies, and continuing-education approvals vary by state. Nothing here is legal advice. Home Fraud Defense is an ARELLO Affiliate Member. ARELLO membership and instructor credentials do not constitute endorsement, and nothing on this page represents an ARELLO or government-agency position.
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