Terms of Service

Template notice: these terms are a starting point drafted to match the site as built. Have qualified counsel review and adapt them, including the governing law and dispute resolution sections, before relying on them.

1. Educational content only — no professional advice

All content on ScamAlert is provided for general educational and informational purposes only. It is not legal advice, financial advice, investment advice, tax advice, or professional advice of any kind.

Reading this site does not create an attorney-client, fiduciary, advisory or other professional relationship between you and ScamAlert or any of its contributors. We do not know your circumstances, your institution's policies, or the specific facts of your situation, and nothing here is tailored to them.

Consumer protection rules, dispute deadlines, liability limits and reimbursement policies vary by institution and jurisdiction and change over time. Before acting on anything you read here, confirm your rights and obligations with your bank, card issuer, payment provider, or a qualified professional licensed in your jurisdiction.

2. If you have lost money, act through official channels

This site is not an emergency service and we cannot intervene on your behalf. If money has moved, contact your bank immediately on the number printed on your card, and report to the official agencies listed on our reporting page. Do not wait for a reply from us before acting.

3. No guarantee of accuracy or outcome

We take accuracy seriously and describe our process in our editorial policy. Even so, we make no representation or warranty that content is accurate, complete, current or suitable for your circumstances.

We do not guarantee any outcome. Following guidance on this site does not guarantee you will avoid a scam, recover lost money, succeed in a dispute, or receive a refund. Scam tactics evolve continuously and some losses cannot be recovered by any means.

4. The Scam Risk Checker

The Scam Risk Checker is an educational tool that produces an estimate from a small set of self-reported answers. It is not a security scan, a verification service, or a determination about any specific message, caller, website or transaction.

A low score does not mean a contact is safe or legitimate. A high score does not establish that a crime occurred. Use its output as one input among others, never as the sole basis for a financial decision. It runs entirely in your browser and we do not receive or store your answers.

5. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Use the site for any unlawful purpose or to facilitate fraud.
• Use content to develop, refine or carry out scams, social engineering, or attacks against any person or organization.
• Scrape, harvest, or systematically copy content except as permitted by our robots.txt and applicable law.
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the site or any related systems, or interfere with its operation.
• Impersonate ScamAlert or its contributors, or misrepresent your affiliation with us.

6. Intellectual property

All content on this site — text, design, graphics, code and the structure of our guides — is owned by ScamAlert or its licensors and is protected by copyright and other laws. You may read, print and share links to our content for personal, non-commercial use.

You may quote a brief excerpt with clear attribution and a link to the original page. You may not republish substantial portions, create derivative works, or use our content to train machine learning models without prior written permission.

7. Third-party links and advertising

We link to government agencies and other third-party resources for your convenience. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content, accuracy, availability or privacy practices. A link is not an endorsement.

This site displays advertising served programmatically by third-party networks. We do not select, endorse, or vouch for individual advertisers or their products, and we are not responsible for their content or for any transaction between you and an advertiser. Any dealings with an advertiser are solely between you and them.

We accept no affiliate commissions or sponsored placements; see our conflict of interest disclosure.

8. Submissions

If you send us a scam report, correction or other message, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use that information to improve our coverage. We treat submissions as confidential by default and will not publish identifying details without your permission. Do not send account numbers, passwords, one-time codes, or government identification numbers.

9. Disclaimer of warranties

The site is provided “as is” and “as available” without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied or statutory, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, and uninterrupted or error-free operation.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, ScamAlert, its contributors and its operators will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for any loss of money, profits, data, goodwill or other intangible losses, arising out of or related to your use of or inability to use the site — including reliance on any content — whether based in contract, tort, negligence, strict liability or otherwise, and whether or not we were advised of the possibility of such damages.

Where liability cannot be excluded, our total aggregate liability is limited to one hundred US dollars (USD $100). Some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions or limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you, and nothing in these terms limits liability for fraud or for death or personal injury caused by negligence where such limitation is prohibited.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless ScamAlert, its contributors and operators from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your use of the site, your violation of these terms, or your violation of the rights of any third party.

12. Availability and changes

We may modify, suspend or discontinue any part of the site at any time without notice. We may also update these terms; the last-updated date above reflects the current version, and continued use after changes constitutes acceptance.

13. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, United States, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. You agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Delaware for any dispute arising from these terms, except where applicable consumer protection law grants you the right to bring proceedings in your place of residence.

14. Severability and entire agreement

If any provision of these terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force. These terms, together with our privacy policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding the site.

15. Contact

Questions about these terms: editor@scamalert.blog, or use our contact form.