Home Fraud Defense™ — Terms of Service

Version: 2.1 Effective Date: May 9, 2026 Last Updated: May 9, 2026

Material change in v2.1 (May 9, 2026): Section 7.4 has been amended to add a 60-Day Refund right that did not exist in v2.0. This is a benefit-only change for subscribers; existing subscribers will be prompted to re-accept on next sign-in. Prior version (v2.0, eff. May 4, 2026) remains archived and viewable at /legal/terms/archive.

IMPORTANT — READ CAREFULLY. These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a binding contract between you and Home Fraud Defense, LLC ("HFD," "we," "us"). They include a mandatory arbitration clause and a class-action waiver in Section 15. By clicking "I Agree," creating an account, or using the Services, you accept these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Services.

1. Introduction and Scope

1.1 Parties

These Terms of Service form a binding legal agreement between you ("you," "your," or "User") and Home Fraud Defense, LLC, an Arizona limited liability company ("Home Fraud Defense," "HFD," "we," "us," or "our"), with its principal place of business at 9362 W Sands Drive, Peoria, AZ 85383. By accessing or using the Service, you represent that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and the Privacy Policy incorporated herein by reference.

1.2 What These Terms Cover

These Terms govern your access to and use of:

The Home Fraud Defense website at homefrauddefense.org and all subdomains, mirrors, successors, and replacements;
The Talveras™ Message Scanner, Property Visibility Report, Phone Risk Scanner, URL/Email Reputation tools, and any other free consumer-facing tools (collectively, the "Free Tools");
The Property Fraud Registry (the "Registry");
The HFDCP™ professional certification program and its associated learning, examination, and credential-management platform (the "Certification Program");
The Home Fraud Defense mobile applications for iOS and Android, including the PropSentry mobile application;
All paid features, subscriptions, monitoring products, professional-services engagements, application programming interfaces (APIs), and white-label products we now or hereafter offer;
All content, software, data displays, branding, and documentation made available through any of the foregoing (collectively with the foregoing, the "Service").

1.3 Acceptance, Modification, and Electronic Records Consent

By accessing, registering for, or using any part of the Service you confirm that you (a) have read and understood these Terms in their entirety, (b) have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract under the laws of your state of residence, (c) agree to be bound by these Terms and the Privacy Policy, and (d) consent under the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (15 U.S.C. § 7001 et seq.) and analogous state law to receive all communications from HFD — including these Terms, notices of change, billing communications, dispute responses, and required statutory disclosures — in electronic form. If you do not agree to any provision of these Terms, you must not access or use the Service.

1.4 Eligibility; Children

You must be at least 18 years of age and legally able to form a binding contract to use the Service. The Service is not directed to children under 13, and HFD does not knowingly collect personal information from any individual it knows or has reason to know is under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has submitted personal information to the Service, contact us immediately at info@homefrauddefense.org and we will delete it consistent with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (15 U.S.C. § 6501 et seq.) and applicable state law.

1.5 Geographic Scope

The Service is operated from and intended for use within the United States. HFD makes no representation that the Service is appropriate, lawful, or available for use in any other jurisdiction. Persons who choose to access the Service from outside the United States do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local law.

2. What the Service Is — and What It Is Not

2.1 Nature of the Service

The Service is an artificial-intelligence-assisted educational and informational tool. It analyzes user-submitted content (including but not limited to text messages, emails, screenshots, photographic images, voicemail transcripts, addresses, telephone numbers, and URLs) for indicators of patterns documented in publicly available consumer-fraud guidance, including guidance issued by the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the Federal Trade Commission, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, state attorneys general, the National Association of REALTORS®, the American Land Title Association, and equivalent industry sources. The Service produces educational summaries, checklists, risk indicators, and reference materials intended to help Users learn about and recognize common fraud patterns.

2.2 What the Service Is Not

The Service does not, and you agree not to rely on it as:

A determination, finding, conclusion, or accusation of fraud against any specific individual, business, message, transaction, property, or account;
A legal opinion, legal advice, or substitute for consultation with a licensed attorney;
A financial opinion, investment recommendation, appraisal, valuation, or substitute for consultation with a licensed financial professional;
A title search, title insurance product, title commitment, deed examination, lien report, escrow service, or substitute for any service performed by a licensed title insurance company, title attorney, or escrow agent;
A "consumer report" within the meaning of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.) or any state equivalent, and may not be used for any purpose for which a consumer report is required, including any decision regarding credit, insurance, employment, tenant screening, or eligibility for a government license or benefit;
A background check, criminal-records search, identity verification, fraud verification, or know-your-customer service;
A medical, mental-health, crisis-counseling, or emergency-response service;
A real-time monitoring service that delivers continuous alerts about ongoing events, except to the extent you have separately subscribed to a product expressly described as such; or
An offer of insurance, indemnification, guarantee, or warranty against fraud loss.

You assume sole responsibility for any decision or action you take based on the Service.

2.3 No Professional Relationship

Your access to or use of the Service does not create any attorney-client, fiduciary, broker-client, agency, lender-borrower, advisor-advisee, accountant-client, title-insurer-insured, or other professional or confidential relationship between you and HFD or any of its principals, members, employees, contractors, instructors, or affiliates. John Rowan, the founder of HFD, holds an Arizona real-estate salesperson license and is an Arizona Department of Real Estate (ADRE) approved instructor; all licensed real-estate activity attributed to him is conducted through Momentum Brokers, LLC d/b/a The Rowan Group and is operationally, contractually, and financially separate from HFD and the Service. No communication between you and HFD or any of its personnel through the Service constitutes a solicitation of, or formation of, any licensed-professional engagement with John Rowan, Momentum Brokers, LLC, or any other person.

3. Free Tools — Open Access

3.1 No Account Required

The Free Tools are made available to the public without a User account. You may use the Free Tools anonymously, subject to the rate limits described in Section 3.2 and the Acceptable Use restrictions in Section 8.

3.2 Rate Limits

To preserve the availability and integrity of the Service, the Free Tools are rate-limited as follows:

Anonymous use: ten (10) submissions per Internet-Protocol address per twenty-four (24) hour rolling period, applied independently to each Free Tool;
Free registered accounts: an aggregate monthly cap of fifty (50) submissions across the Title-search-style tools, applied per account, in addition to the per-IP limit above; and
Pro accounts: the limits set forth in the applicable Pro account plan documentation.

We may, in our sole discretion and without prior notice, modify these limits, implement additional limits, employ technical anti-abuse controls (including CAPTCHA challenges, IP reputation scoring, and temporary blocks), or suspend access to any Free Tool to protect Service availability, prevent abuse, comply with vendor or infrastructure constraints, or respond to a security incident.

3.3 Submission Handling and Retention

Inputs submitted to the Free Tools (including text, screenshots, photographs, telephone numbers, addresses, URLs, and any embedded metadata) are processed in real time by HFD's third-party generative-AI provider, currently Anthropic, PBC, via the Claude API, to produce the educational output you receive. With respect to Free Tool submissions:

HFD retains the submission record only for so long as is operationally required to deliver the educational output and to permit you to return to your private session link, and in no event for longer than twenty-four (24) hours, after which the submission record is automatically purged by an automated retention-purge job that runs at least once per day;
HFD retains, after the twenty-four-hour purge, only (i) the educational summary or checklist you received in a redacted form that does not include the underlying input verbatim, accessible via your private session link; (ii) aggregated, de-identified usage metrics used for Service operation, analytics, capacity planning, and external reporting; and (iii) operational system logs that may incidentally contain submission metadata for the period required to operate the Service, in any event not exceeding twenty-four (24) hours;
HFD does not use Free Tool submissions to train any artificial-intelligence model, whether owned by HFD, by Anthropic, or by any other party.

3.4 Free Account Registration

If you create a free registered account to obtain higher submission limits or to save educational outputs, Sections 7.2 (Account Information), 7.6 (Suspension and Termination), and 8 (Acceptable Use) apply to your account on the same terms as for Pro accounts, except that no payment is required.

4. Property Visibility Reports and Owner-of-Record Information

4.1 Public-Records Sourcing and First-Amendment Posture

Property Visibility Reports display information sourced from public county recorder, assessor, treasurer, and equivalent governmental records, the same data that the originating county itself makes publicly available, in many cases without charge. HFD's display of this information constitutes the lawful republication of truthful information lawfully obtained from public-government sources, a use protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States in cases including Florida Star v. B.J.F., 491 U.S. 524 (1989) and Bartnicki v. Vopper, 532 U.S. 514 (2001), and consistent with the practices of nationally recognized consumer real-estate platforms.

4.2 Owner-of-Record Display and Removal Process

Owner-of-record names are public records under the laws of the states in which the corresponding properties are located. HFD displays such names in the Property Visibility Report by default, accompanied by (i) a clear notice identifying the originating public-record source and the date the data was last refreshed, and (ii) a clearly available link permitting any individual to request removal as described in this Section.

HFD honors removal requests from:

The owner of record, upon submission of acceptable verification of ownership;
Individuals qualifying for any state-recognized address-confidentiality or privacy program, including but not limited to active or retired judges, active or retired law enforcement officers and prosecutors, active or retired military and intelligence personnel where covered by federal law, survivors of domestic violence and stalking enrolled in state Address Confidentiality Programs, witness-protection participants, and any other category recognized under Arizona Revised Statutes Title 11, Chapter 4, the New Jersey Daniel's Law, the California Safe at Home program, or the analogous statutes or programs of the property's home state;
Any individual upon presentation of a court order, valid protective order, or comparable governmental documentation; and
Any individual whom HFD elects, in its sole discretion, to honor a request from on equity or safety grounds.

Removal requests will be acknowledged within three (3) business days and reviewed within ten (10) business days of receipt of complete documentation. Submit removal requests to info@homefrauddefense.org with the subject line "Removal Request". Removal applies to the HFD Service only; HFD cannot and does not modify or affect the underlying public records held by any county, state, or other governmental authority.

4.3 Prohibited Targeting Use

You agree that you will not, and will not permit any third party to, use any Property Visibility Report or any data derived from one to identify, locate, contact, harass, intimidate, threaten, stalk, target, defraud, or harm any individual, household, or business named in or associated with a property described in a Report; to compile a list, database, or product for any such purpose; or to plan, facilitate, or execute any criminal act, predatory lending transaction, equity-skimming scheme, deed-fraud scheme, invasive marketing campaign, or violation of the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the CAN-SPAM Act, the Fair Housing Act, or any analogous federal, state, or local law.

4.4 No Title-Industry Substitute

A Property Visibility Report does not constitute and is not a substitute for: a title search, title insurance commitment, title insurance policy, deed examination, lien search, encumbrance report, escrow service, settlement service, real-estate closing service, or any service performed by a licensed title insurance company, title attorney, escrow officer, or settlement agent. If you are evaluating, purchasing, selling, refinancing, financing, gifting, inheriting, or otherwise transferring an interest in real property, you must engage a licensed title professional and your own independent counsel. Reliance on the Property Visibility Report alone in connection with any real-property transaction or determination is at your sole risk, and HFD expressly disclaims liability for any such reliance to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.

4.5 Not a Consumer Report

Property Visibility Reports are not, and may not be used as, "consumer reports" as defined in 15 U.S.C. § 1681a(d) or any state equivalent. You may not use a Property Visibility Report, in whole or in part, for any "permissible purpose" under the FCRA, including any decision regarding the extension of credit, underwriting of insurance, employment, the rental of housing, the issuance of a license or government benefit, or the screening of any individual for any of the foregoing purposes. By accessing a Property Visibility Report, you certify that you will not use it for any purpose prohibited by this Section.

5. The Property Fraud Registry

5.1 Interactive Computer Service; Section 230 Posture

The Registry is an online platform on which Users may submit reports describing suspected fraudulent activity associated with specific properties or transactions. Reports submitted to the Registry are User-generated content. HFD is an "interactive computer service" within the meaning of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. § 230, and to the maximum extent permitted by federal and state law claims neither origination of, nor responsibility for, the content of any Registry submission. HFD does not generate, originate, fact-check, endorse, or independently verify the content of Registry submissions, and HFD's editorial functions are limited to the categorical "Good Samaritan" actions described in 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(2): acceptance, rejection, organization, redaction, removal, and similar moderation activities applied uniformly to material HFD considers objectionable, defamatory, harassing, false, or otherwise inconsistent with these Terms. HFD does not supply categories, dropdowns, prompts, or fields that are designed to elicit unlawful content within the meaning of Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley v. Roommates.com, LLC, 521 F.3d 1157 (9th Cir. 2008), and the "neutral tools" of the Registry are general-purpose intake fields applicable to any lawful fraud-warning content.

5.2 Account Required for Registry Submissions

Notwithstanding the open-access policy applicable to the Free Tools, all Registry submissions require a verified User account. Submissions may not be made anonymously or under a pseudonym, and HFD may, at its option, require additional identity verification before publishing a submission. HFD reserves the right to retain, in its sole discretion and consistent with applicable law and the Privacy Policy, identity-verification records as necessary to support the Section 5.7 indemnification obligation and to respond to lawful process.

5.3 Submission Representations and Warranties

By submitting a report to the Registry, you represent and warrant that:

(a) every factual statement in your submission is based on your first-hand knowledge or on documentary evidence in your possession or control that you can produce on request;

(b) you are submitting the report in good faith and with the genuine, exclusive purpose of warning others about suspected fraudulent activity that may pose a risk of financial harm;

(c) you have no commercial, competitive, retaliatory, romantic, familial, employment, or personal-grievance motive that would render the submission false, misleading, exaggerated, or selectively presented;

(d) you are not currently engaged in, and have not within the prior twenty-four (24) months been engaged in, active litigation, arbitration, regulatory proceedings, or settlement discussions with any party named in the report;

(e) the submission does not violate any court order, settlement agreement, non-disclosure agreement, employer confidentiality obligation, or other binding restriction to which you are a party;

(f) the submission does not contain content protected by any other person's attorney-client privilege, work-product protection, financial-institution confidentiality obligation, or trade secret;

(g) you have the legal right to share each item of information you submit, including any photographs, screenshots, documents, and personally identifying information referenced therein; and

(h) the submission complies with the federal Anti-SLAPP-related considerations and analogous state anti-SLAPP laws, in that it constitutes good-faith petitioning or speech on a matter of public concern based on a reasonable factual basis.

You acknowledge that knowingly false statements made in a Registry submission may constitute defamation, false light, tortious interference, or in some jurisdictions a crime, and that HFD will, when required by valid legal process, disclose your identity and submission record to any party seeking redress.

5.4 Submission License

By submitting a report to the Registry, you grant HFD a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable (except as required to honor a redaction or removal determination under Section 5.6), non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license to host, store, reproduce, display, distribute, transmit, modify (for clarity, formatting, redaction, anonymization, or compliance), translate, create derivative works of, and remove the report and any associated materials in any medium now known or later developed, in connection with operating, marketing, defending, and improving the Service. You retain ownership of your submission. You waive, to the maximum extent permitted by law, any moral rights or analogous rights you may hold in your submission.

5.5 HFD's Rights as Platform Operator

HFD reserves the right, but does not assume the obligation, to: review, edit (for clarity, formatting, or compliance only), redact, anonymize, decline to publish, suspend, or remove any Registry submission, in whole or in part, at any time and for any reason or no reason; investigate the accuracy of any submission; suspend, terminate, or refuse future service to any User who has submitted a false, misleading, bad-faith, or repeat-grievance report; cooperate with law enforcement and lawful process; and disclose Registry submissions, submitter identity, and supporting metadata in response to valid legal process or to protect the rights, safety, or property of HFD, its Users, or the public. The exercise of any right under this Section 5.5 is undertaken in HFD's role as an interactive computer service exercising "Good Samaritan" moderation under 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(2) and shall not be construed to make HFD an "information content provider" with respect to any User-generated content.

5.6 Dispute Process for Named Parties

Any individual or business named in a Registry submission may dispute the submission by contacting info@homefrauddefense.org with the subject line "Registry Dispute" and a written explanation and any supporting documentation. HFD will:

Acknowledge receipt within five (5) business days of a complete dispute submission;
Conduct a good-faith review of the dispute and any documentation supplied by the submitter and the named party;
Reach a determination to retain, modify, redact, or remove the submission within thirty (30) business days of acknowledgment; and
Notify both the submitter and the named party of the determination and the reasoning.

This process is offered as a community service and does not create a contractual right of removal, does not waive any HFD immunity under 47 U.S.C. § 230 or any analogous state-law immunity, and is not a substitute for any legal remedy available to the named party. Participation in this process does not toll any statute of limitations.

5.7 User Indemnification for Registry Submissions

In addition to the general indemnification in Section 14, each User who submits a Registry report agrees to defend (at HFD's option), indemnify, and hold harmless HFD and the Indemnified Parties from and against any and all claims, suits, demands, investigations, damages, losses, liabilities, judgments, settlements, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees, expert fees, and court costs) arising from or related to: the content of the User's submission; any claim of defamation, libel, slander, false light, intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress, tortious interference, unfair competition, deceptive trade practice, business disparagement, invasion of privacy, publicity rights violation, or similar claim; and any breach of the User's representations and warranties in Section 5.3. This indemnification obligation is unconditional, survives termination of the User's account and these Terms, and applies regardless of whether HFD elects to remove the submission.

6. Artificial Intelligence Disclosure

6.1 The Service Uses Artificial Intelligence

The Service uses third-party generative artificial intelligence systems, currently the Claude family of models provided by Anthropic, PBC, via the Claude API, to analyze Free Tool submissions and to generate the educational outputs you receive. By using the Free Tools, you understand and agree that you are interacting with AI-generated output and not with a human-reviewed analysis. HFD may, in its discretion and on prior notice posted on the Service, change AI providers or add additional providers without amendment to these Terms.

6.2 Limitations of AI Output

Generative AI systems can and do produce errors, including identifying patterns that are not present (false positives), failing to identify patterns that are present (false negatives), producing factually incorrect statements (hallucinations), misinterpreting context, sarcasm, idiomatic language, dialect, or industry-specific terminology, producing outputs that reflect training-data biases, and producing inconsistent outputs across repeated submissions. You acknowledge these limitations and agree to treat all AI-generated outputs as preliminary educational starting points for your own independent verification, never as conclusions.

6.3 No Human Pre-Screening of Free Tool Output

Outputs from the Free Tools are generated and delivered to you without human review by HFD personnel.

6.4 Right to Human Assistance

If you require human review of a suspected fraud situation — particularly one involving an active financial loss, an in-progress real-estate transaction, an elderly or vulnerable family member, a threat of violence, or an emergency — you should consult: a licensed attorney; your local law-enforcement agency (or 911 in an emergency); your state attorney general's consumer-protection division; the Federal Trade Commission at reportfraud.ftc.gov; the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov; or, for real-estate matters, a licensed real-estate attorney, a licensed title insurance company, or an HFDCP™ Certified Professional.

6.5 State-Specific AI Disclosures

This Section is intended to provide the disclosures required by, among others, the Colorado Artificial Intelligence Act (Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-1701 et seq.), the Utah Artificial Intelligence Policy Act (Utah Code § 13-72-101 et seq.), the California AI Transparency Act (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 22757 et seq.), the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act, and analogous laws of any other state that imposes consumer-facing AI disclosure obligations on services made available within its borders.

6.6 Right to Opt Out of Solely-Automated Decisions

To the extent any feature of the Service constitutes an "automated decision" under any applicable state privacy law (including CCPA/CPRA, CPA, CTDPA, CDPA, or TDPSA), you have the right to opt out of solely-automated decision-making and to request human review of any output that materially affects you. Submit such requests to info@homefrauddefense.org.

7. Pro Accounts and the HFDCP™ Certification Program

7.1 Account Required

The HFDCP™ Certification Program, the Pro view of the Property Fraud Registry, the instructor portal, monitoring products, certain reporting tools, and any white-label or API products require a Pro account.

7.2 Account Information

You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information when creating a Pro account, to maintain and promptly update that information, to keep your account credentials secure, not to share your credentials, and to immediately notify HFD of any actual or suspected unauthorized access. You are solely responsible for all activity occurring under your account.

7.3 Pricing

Current pricing for HFDCP™ Certification is $399 for the initial certification fee and $199 per year for ongoing credential maintenance, tool access, intelligence updates, and priority access to future programs. Pricing for other Pro features is described at the point of purchase. All pricing is exclusive of any applicable taxes and may be modified by HFD on thirty (30) days' advance written notice to existing subscribers, sent to the email address on file.

7.4 Billing, Cancellation, and 60-Day Refund

Subscriptions are billed in advance on a recurring basis through Stripe and renew automatically until cancelled. You may cancel at any time through your account portal or by contacting info@homefrauddefense.org with the subject line "Cancellation Request". Cancellation takes effect at the end of the then-current billing period.

60-Day Refund. If you cancel your HFDCP™ subscription within sixty (60) calendar days of the initial certification charge or any renewal charge, HFD will, on written request submitted within that 60-day window to info@homefrauddefense.org with the subject line "Refund Request," refund the full amount you paid for that charge. Refund requests submitted after the 60-day window are not provided, except where required by applicable law. The 60-day refund applies to the HFDCP™ Designation initial certification fee and to each annual renewal fee independently. It does not apply to (i) chapter, brokerage, team, or white-label/API agreements governed by their own written contract, (ii) sponsor plans, (iii) third-party fees (including, without limitation, payment-processor fees that Stripe does not return to HFD), or (iv) any portion of a charge attributable to taxes that the relevant taxing authority does not return to HFD.

7.5 Automatic-Renewal Disclosures (California Business & Professions Code § 17600 et seq. and Analogous Laws)

For California residents and any other person entitled to similar protections under state law, HFD makes the following disclosures clearly and conspicuously:

(a) Automatic renewal: Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of each billing period at the then-current renewal price until you cancel.

(b) Renewal price; renewal frequency: The renewal price and frequency are stated on the checkout page at the time you subscribe, and are restated in the order confirmation emailed to you.

(c) Cancellation method: You may cancel at any time, without penalty, through the "Manage Subscription" page in your account portal, which provides one-click online cancellation by the same means used to subscribe; or by emailing info@homefrauddefense.org with the subject line "Cancellation Request".

(d) Notice of price changes: HFD will provide notice of any change to the renewal price at least seven (7) days before the change takes effect.

(e) Free or discounted trials: If you accepted a free trial or discounted introductory price, HFD will send a reminder before the trial converts to a paid subscription, as required by applicable law.

(f) Acknowledgment: Your subscription confirmation email contains the automatic-renewal terms, the cancellation method, and a description of how to obtain a refund if available.

7.6 Suspension and Termination

HFD may suspend or terminate your account, with or without notice, if you violate these Terms, your payment method fails, HFD receives credible reports of misuse, HFD is required to do so by law or regulator, continuing to provide the Service to you would expose HFD to legal, regulatory, or reputational risk, or HFD elects to discontinue the Service or any feature on reasonable notice.

7.7 HFDCP™ Credential Holders

If you hold the HFDCP™ credential, you agree to use the credential only in connection with services consistent with HFD's published HFDCP™ standards of practice, to maintain current credential status, not to imply HFD endorsement of any specific transaction or client matter, to disclose accurately the scope and limits of the credential, and to surrender the credential upon revocation by HFD. HFD may revoke the credential for cause after notice and an opportunity to be heard.

8. Acceptable Use

You agree not to, and not to attempt to, and not to authorize or assist any third party to:

Submit content that is false, misleading, defamatory, fraudulent, deceptive, or that you do not have the right to submit;
Use the Service to harass, intimidate, threaten, stalk, defame, dox, or harm any individual or business;
Submit content containing personally identifiable information about any third party without that party's consent (except that screenshot uploads to the Free Tools may incidentally contain third-party PII visible in the original message);
Use the Service for any purpose prohibited by Section 4.3 or otherwise unlawful;
Use the Service to practice law, give legal advice, give financial advice, give tax advice, conduct private investigations, perform background checks, provide a "consumer report" service, or hold yourself out as a licensed professional you are not;
Reverse engineer, decompile, scrape, harvest, mass-download, or extract data from the Service in bulk;
Use any robot, spider, crawler, headless browser, or automated means to access the Service except as expressly authorized in writing by HFD;
Attempt to circumvent rate limits, access controls, paywalls, or anti-abuse measures;
Interfere with the operation, security, integrity, or availability of the Service;
Use the Service to develop, train, fine-tune, evaluate, or benchmark any artificial-intelligence model or competing product;
Frame, mirror, or in-line link the Service in a manner that obscures HFD's branding or implies endorsement;
Resell or sublicense access to the Service except as expressly authorized in writing by HFD; or
Violate any applicable federal, state, local, or international law in connection with your use of the Service.

A violation of this Section 8 may result in immediate suspension or termination of your access, in addition to any civil, statutory, or criminal remedies available to HFD or to harmed third parties.

9. Intellectual Property

9.1 HFD's Property

Home Fraud Defense™, HFDCP™, Talveras™, PropSentry™, the Talveras™ design family, all logos, the Service software, the Service content (other than User submissions), the structure and selection of the Service's data displays, all training and instructional materials in the Certification Program, and all underlying intellectual property are owned by HFD or its licensors and are protected by U.S. and international intellectual-property laws.

9.2 Your Limited License

Subject to your continuing compliance with these Terms, HFD grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to access and use the Service for your personal, non-commercial use, or, if you are a Pro account holder, for the professional use described in your account terms.

9.3 Your Content

You retain ownership of content you submit to the Service. You grant HFD the licenses described in Sections 3.3 (Free Tools) and 5.4 (Registry).

9.4 No Trademark Use

Nothing in these Terms grants you any right to use HFD's trademarks, trade names, or logos. ARELLO Affiliate Member status is a credential of HFD; the ARELLO mark belongs to ARELLO and is used with permission.

9.5 Feedback

If you submit any suggestion, idea, or other feedback regarding the Service, you grant HFD a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide, sublicensable license to use, modify, and exploit the feedback for any purpose, without obligation or compensation to you.

10. Copyright and DMCA Takedown

HFD respects intellectual-property rights. If you believe content on the Service infringes a copyright you own or are authorized to enforce, send a notice meeting the requirements of 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3) to HFD's designated DMCA agent:

DMCA Designated Agent: John Rowan, Home Fraud Defense, LLC 9362 W Sands Drive, Peoria, AZ 85383 Email: info@homefrauddefense.org (subject line: "DMCA Notice")

A valid notice must include: (a) identification of the copyrighted work; (b) identification of the allegedly infringing material with sufficient detail to locate it; (c) your contact information; (d) a statement that you have a good-faith belief that the use is unauthorized; (e) a statement under penalty of perjury that the information is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the rights holder; and (f) your physical or electronic signature. See /legal/dmca for full details.

Submission of a knowingly false notice may subject you to liability under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f).

11. Privacy

Your use of the Service is also governed by the Privacy Policy at /legal/privacy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. In the event of any conflict between these Terms and the Privacy Policy with respect to data handling, the Privacy Policy controls.

12. Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SERVICE, INCLUDING ALL FREE TOOLS, ALL AI-GENERATED OUTPUTS, ALL PROPERTY VISIBILITY REPORTS, ALL REGISTRY CONTENT, ALL CERTIFICATION-PROGRAM MATERIALS, ALL PRO FEATURES, AND ALL DATA SOURCED FROM THIRD-PARTY PROVIDERS, IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, HFD DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, AND QUIET ENJOYMENT.

WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, HFD DOES NOT WARRANT THAT: (A) THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS; (B) THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE; (C) ANY OUTPUT GENERATED BY THE SERVICE IS ACCURATE, COMPLETE, CURRENT, OR RELIABLE; (D) ANY ERROR WILL BE CORRECTED; OR (E) THE SERVICE IS FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.

NO ADVICE OBTAINED FROM HFD OR THROUGH THE SERVICE CREATES ANY WARRANTY NOT EXPRESSLY STATED IN THESE TERMS.

13. Limitation of Liability

13.1 Excluded Damages

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL HFD, ITS AFFILIATES, OR THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, MEMBERS, MANAGERS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, AGENTS, INSTRUCTORS, OR LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, GOODWILL, USE, DATA, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, REGARDLESS OF THE THEORY OF LIABILITY (CONTRACT, TORT INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, STATUTE, OR OTHERWISE), AND EVEN IF HFD HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

13.2 Liability Cap

HFD'S TOTAL CUMULATIVE LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING UNDER OR RELATED TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF:

(A) for Users of the Free Tools who have not paid HFD in the prior twelve (12) months: ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100);

(B) for Pro account holders and other paying Users: the total amount you paid to HFD for the Service in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim; and

(C) for any claim brought by a person named in a Registry submission against HFD: FIVE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($500), without prejudice to that person's right to pursue the User who submitted the Registry content for full damages.

13.3 Carve-Outs

The limitations in this Section do not apply to liability that cannot be limited by contract under applicable law, including liability for HFD's intentional fraud, willful misconduct, or gross negligence, personal injury or death caused by HFD's negligence, or any other liability that applicable law expressly prohibits being limited or excluded.

13.4 Allocation of Risk

You acknowledge that the disclaimers, exclusions, and liability caps in Sections 12 and 13 reflect a reasonable allocation of risk between you and HFD; that the Service is provided in reliance on this allocation; and that this allocation forms an essential basis of the bargain.

13.5 California Civil Code § 1542 Waiver

If you are a California resident, you expressly waive the protections of California Civil Code § 1542 and any analogous provision of any other jurisdiction.

14. Indemnification

You agree to defend (at HFD's option), indemnify, and hold harmless HFD and its affiliates, officers, directors, members, managers, employees, contractors, agents, instructors, and licensors (the "Indemnified Parties") from and against any and all claims, demands, suits, proceedings, investigations, damages, losses, liabilities, judgments, settlements, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees, expert fees, and court costs) arising out of or related to:

Your access to or use of the Service;
Any content you submit through the Service;
Any breach by you of these Terms;
Any violation by you of any law or any third-party right;
Any misuse by you of any Property Visibility Report, Registry submission, AI-generated output, or other Service output; or
Any third-party claim arising from your use of the Service to identify, contact, or take action regarding any individual or business.

HFD reserves the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, in which case you agree to cooperate fully with HFD's defense.

15. Governing Law; Dispute Resolution; Mandatory Arbitration; Class-Action Waiver

Important — please read carefully. This Section requires you to resolve disputes with HFD on an individual basis through binding arbitration and waives your right to participate in a class action, except as expressly provided. You may opt out of arbitration as described in Section 15.4.

15.1 Governing Law

These Terms, and any dispute arising out of or related to these Terms or the Service, are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Arizona, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply. The Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq. ("FAA"), governs the interpretation and enforcement of Section 15.3.

15.2 Informal Dispute Resolution Required

Before initiating arbitration or any court proceeding, you and HFD agree to attempt in good faith to resolve any dispute informally. The party initiating the dispute must send a written Notice of Dispute to the other party that describes the nature and basis of the dispute and the relief sought. Notice to HFD must be sent to info@homefrauddefense.org with the subject line "Notice of Dispute" and a copy by U.S. mail to the address in Section 19. The parties shall confer within thirty (30) days of receipt. If the dispute is not resolved within sixty (60) days, either party may initiate arbitration. Compliance with this Section 15.2 is a condition precedent to filing arbitration.

15.3 Binding Individual Arbitration

Except for the disputes described in Section 15.5, you and HFD agree that any and all disputes, claims, or controversies arising out of or related to these Terms, the Service, or your relationship with HFD (collectively, "Disputes") shall be resolved exclusively by final, binding, individual arbitration administered by JAMS under its then-current Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures for claims under $250,000 and under its then-current Comprehensive Arbitration Rules and Procedures for claims of $250,000 or more, or, if JAMS is unavailable, by the American Arbitration Association under its then-current Consumer Arbitration Rules. The arbitration will be conducted by a single neutral arbitrator. The arbitration will take place in Maricopa County, Arizona, except that, if you are a consumer, you may elect to have the arbitration conducted in your county of residence, by telephone or videoconference, or on a documents-only basis. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

15.4 Right to Opt Out of Arbitration

You may opt out of Section 15.3 by sending written notice to info@homefrauddefense.org with the subject line "Arbitration Opt-Out", with a copy by U.S. mail to HFD at the address in Section 19, within thirty (30) days of the date you first accepted these Terms. The notice must include your full legal name, the email address associated with your account, the date you first accepted these Terms, and a clear statement that you wish to opt out. Opting out will not affect any other provision of these Terms.

15.5 Exceptions to Arbitration

The following Disputes are excluded from Section 15.3 and may be brought in any court of competent jurisdiction: (a) any claim seeking only injunctive or equitable relief to protect intellectual-property rights; (b) any small-claims-court action that qualifies for and remains in small-claims court; (c) any claim by HFD to collect unpaid Service fees; (d) any claim that, by applicable law, may not be required to be arbitrated; and (e) any claim brought by a Registry-named party against HFD that arises solely from User-generated content.

15.6 Class-Action Waiver

YOU AND HFD AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN YOUR OR ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS, COLLECTIVE, OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING, INCLUDING ANY PROCEEDING BROUGHT UNDER A PRIVATE-ATTORNEY-GENERAL OR REPRESENTATIVE-ACTION STATUTE TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. The arbitrator may not consolidate the claims of multiple parties and may not preside over any form of representative or class proceeding.

15.7 Jury-Trial Waiver

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you and HFD each knowingly, voluntarily, and intentionally waive any right to a trial by jury in any proceeding arising out of or related to these Terms or the Service.

15.8 Forum for Non-Arbitrable Matters

For any Dispute that is not subject to arbitration under Section 15.3, the parties consent to the exclusive personal jurisdiction of, and venue in, the state and federal courts located in Maricopa County, Arizona, and waive any objection based on inconvenient forum.

15.9 Mass-Arbitration Coordination Procedure

If, within any sixty (60) day period, twenty-five (25) or more arbitration demands of substantially similar nature are filed by or with the assistance of the same law firm or coordinated group of law firms against HFD, those demands shall, at HFD's election, be administered as a coordinated proceeding under a bellwether protocol followed by a single mediation, as more fully described in the Notice of Dispute response. No claimant whose demand is stayed shall lose any substantive right by reason of the stay.

15.10 Time to File Claims

Any Dispute arising out of or related to these Terms or the Service must be filed within one (1) year after the cause of action accrues, or it is permanently barred, except where applicable law prohibits such limitation.

15.11 Severability of This Section

If any provision of this Section 15 is found to be unenforceable, that provision shall be severed and the remainder of this Section 15 shall remain in full force and effect, except that if Section 15.6 is found unenforceable as to a class claim that is not severable, Section 15.3 shall not apply to that specific class claim, which shall instead proceed in court under Section 15.8.

16. Force Majeure

HFD is not liable for any failure or delay in performance under these Terms caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including acts of God; natural disasters; war, terrorism, civil unrest; strike or labor stoppage; governmental action; failure or interruption of the Internet, telecommunications, electricity, or other utility; cyberattack, denial-of-service, or ransomware; failure of any third-party service provider on which the Service depends, including without limitation Replit (hosting and database), Anthropic (AI), Stripe (payments), Resend (email), Twilio (telephony), ATTOM, RentCast, BatchData, IPQS, Google Safe Browsing, AbstractAPI, Bunny.net (storage and streaming), LearnWorlds, and any other infrastructure, data, or communications vendor on which the Service depends from time to time; pandemic; and any similar event. HFD will use commercially reasonable efforts to mitigate the effect of any force-majeure event.

17. Changes to These Terms

HFD may modify these Terms from time to time. When HFD does so, HFD will:

Update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this document;
Post a notice on the homefrauddefense.org homepage for at least thirty (30) days following any material change;
Email registered account holders at the email address on file at least thirty (30) days before any material change takes effect; and
For material changes affecting paid Pro account holders, present the revised Terms for affirmative reacceptance through the account portal at the next sign-in following the effective date. A Pro account holder who declines reacceptance may cancel without penalty and receive a pro-rata refund of prepaid subscription fees attributable to the period after the effective date of the change.

For non-material changes, continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree to the revised Terms, you must stop using the Service.

18. General Provisions

18.1 Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, the AI Use Disclosure, the Data Retention Policy, the DMCA Policy, the Cookie Policy, the Accessibility Statement, the Responsible Disclosure Policy, the HFDCP™ Standards of Practice (for credential holders), and any order form or written agreement expressly incorporated by reference, constitute the entire agreement between you and HFD concerning the Service.

18.2 Severability

If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, that provision shall be enforced to the maximum extent permissible and the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

18.3 No Waiver

HFD's failure to enforce any right or provision shall not be deemed a waiver. No waiver is effective unless made in writing and signed by an authorized representative of HFD.

18.4 Assignment

You may not assign these Terms or your account without HFD's prior written consent; any unauthorized assignment is void. HFD may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, sale of assets, corporate reorganization, or by operation of law.

18.5 Survival

The following Sections, and any other provision that by its nature is intended to survive, shall survive any termination of these Terms or your account: Section 2 (What the Service Is Not), Section 4.3, Section 4.4, Section 4.5, Section 5.1, Section 5.4, Section 5.5, Section 5.7, Section 8 (with respect to acts that occurred during your use), Section 9 (Intellectual Property), Section 12 (Disclaimer), Section 13 (Limitation of Liability), Section 14 (Indemnification), Section 15 (Governing Law and Dispute Resolution), Section 16 (Force Majeure), and this Section 18.

18.6 Relationship of the Parties

The relationship between you and HFD is that of independent contractors. Nothing in these Terms creates any partnership, joint venture, employment, agency, fiduciary, or franchise relationship.

18.7 No Third-Party Beneficiaries

These Terms do not confer any rights or remedies on any third party except (a) the Indemnified Parties named in Sections 5.7 and 14, who are intended third-party beneficiaries solely with respect to the indemnification obligations owed to them, and (b) any third-party licensor of HFD whose intellectual property is referenced or incorporated into the Service.

18.8 Headings; Construction

Section headings are for convenience only. The words "include," "includes," and "including" mean "include without limitation," "includes without limitation," and "including without limitation," respectively. Any rule of construction to the effect that ambiguities are to be resolved against the drafting party shall not apply.

18.9 Notices to You; Notices to HFD

Notices to you may be provided by email, by posting on the Service, or by in-product notification. All notices to HFD must be sent to info@homefrauddefense.org with a copy by U.S. mail to the address in Section 19. Notice is effective upon HFD's actual receipt.

18.10 Export Compliance

You represent that you are not located in, under the control of, or a national or resident of any country to which the United States has embargoed goods or services, or designated by the U.S. Government as a "terrorist supporting" country, and that you are not on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.

19. Contact

Home Fraud Defense, LLC 9362 W Sands Drive Peoria, AZ 85383 United States

Email: info@homefrauddefense.org Telephone: (623) 263-2382 Website: https://homefrauddefense.org

A single shared inbox is monitored for all categories of inquiry. To help us route your message, please use one of the following subject-line prefixes when applicable:

"Notice of Dispute" — pre-arbitration notice under Section 15.2
"Arbitration Opt-Out" — opt-out notice under Section 15.4
"DMCA Notice" — copyright takedown notice under Section 10
"Counter-Notice" — DMCA counter-notice
"Registry Dispute" — named-party Registry dispute under Section 5.6
"Privacy Request" — data-subject right under Section 11 or the Privacy Policy
"Cancellation Request" — Pro subscription cancellation under Section 7.4 / 7.5
"Removal Request" — Property Visibility Report owner-name removal under Section 4.2
"Security Disclosure" — vulnerability report under the Responsible Disclosure Policy
"Accessibility" — accessibility-related concern or accommodation request