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How it works

What it is and how levels work

Before You Pick Up is a place to check a phone number before you trust it. People report what happened when a number contacted them. You look the number up and see the pattern. This page explains how that works, what the levels mean, and what we do when someone says a listing is wrong.

What it is, and isn't

It's a shared record of what people ran into with a phone number: a scam text, a match who pushed for gift cards, a buyer who sent a fake payment screenshot. Each entry is one person's account, tied to the number, with no names in it.

It isn't a background check, a people search, or an identity check. Reports are unverified. A listed number tells you what people ran into, not who is behind it: numbers get spoofed and reassigned all the time. Using this site to decide about employment, housing, credit, or insurance is against the terms.

How it works

Look up

Type a number. If anyone has reported it, you see how many people, which patterns they picked, when, and any notes they wrote. If nobody has, the page says so, and that's all it says. "No reports" means we have nothing on it, not that it's safe.

Report

Pick where it happened, what stage things were at, and which patterns you saw from a fixed list. A short note is optional, and it's checked for anything that identifies a person before it's saved. No account needed. Reports go live right away unless the number is being flooded, in which case a person looks first.

Levels

Each number gets a level from the visible reports on it. The point is to summarize, and to err on the quiet side.

No reports
Nobody has reported this number here. That doesn't mean it's safe, just that we have nothing on it.
Low signal
One person reported this number, or several did and what they described is mild, old, or disputed. Worth reading, not a conclusion.
Elevated signal
Two or more different people reported this number, and their reports add up: enough of them, recent enough, or serious enough. Read what they describe.
High signal
Three or more different people reported this number, the most recent within the last year, and their reports add up to the top of our scale. Read them closely.

The rules behind it, in plain terms:

  • One person alone can only ever get a number to "low", however many reports they add.
  • "Elevated" needs at least two different people, and enough weight between them.
  • "High" needs three or more different people, more weight again, and a report from the last year.
  • Weight is per report. Money, threats, and impersonation carry the most; pressure and inconsistencies carry less; an order or payment complaint carries least.
  • Enough mild reports from enough different people still add up, so a level never says how serious any one report was.
  • Old reports fade. A report loses about half its weight each year, and never counts for less than a quarter of a fresh one.
  • Reports a moderator reviewed count a bit more. Disputed reports count a lot less. Removed reports don't count at all.
  • We count people using a private key (your account, or a keyed hash of your connection), so ten reports from one source never look like ten people.

The pill on a number's page shows the level. The lines under it say why: how many people, how recent, and what kind of thing they described.

Moderation

Some checks happen on their own when a report comes in:

  • Notes are scanned for names, phone numbers, handles, emails, addresses, workplaces, and links. Anything that identifies a person is refused before it's saved.
  • Rate limits: 5 reports per person every 15 minutes, 20 a day, and one report per number per person per month.
  • When a number gets a burst of reports from different people within an hour, new ones are held for a person to look at first.
  • A form sent faster than a person could fill it in is held too.

A person reviews flags, held reports, and disputes. They can publish, remove, or redact a report, mark it reviewed or disputed, or take a whole number's page down. Every action is logged with a reason.

"Removed" means the report is hidden everywhere and doesn't count toward anything. We keep the record so we can answer questions about what was there and why it came down. We don't publish it again.

If your number is listed

Numbers get spoofed and reassigned. If yours is listed and it shouldn't be, send a dispute. Say how long you've had the number and whether you know why it might have been reported.

What we do with it:

  • We email you to say we have it.
  • While we look, we may mark the reports on that number as disputed. The label is visible, disputed reports count much less toward the level, and the label stays after we decide.
  • A person decides: leave the reports as they are, mark them disputed, remove some or all of them, or take the number's page down. We email you what changed, usually within a few business days. If you want to know why, reply to that email and ask.

We never charge for review or removal. Anyone who says they can get you delisted for a fee is not working with us. And we can't tell you who reported the number: we don't publish that, and we don't hand it over.

What we store

The short version. The privacy policy has the long one.

What we store, and for how long
The numberDetailsEncrypted at rest, keyed by a hash so we can look it up. Only ever shown partly hidden (212-5**-**34).How longAs long as it has reports, or someone watches it
The reportDetailsCategories, where and when, and the optional note (checked for identifying details first).How longPublic while it's live. Kept as removed if it comes down.
Who reportedDetailsA keyed hash of the connection's IP, or your account id if you were signed in. Never shown.How longIP hash up to 180 days. Account link until you delete the account.
LookupsDetailsCounts with a hashed IP, so we can spot scraping.How long90 days
AccountDetailsEmail, hashed password, whether 2-step sign-in is on, the numbers you watch, and your plan if you subscribe.How longUntil you delete it
DisputesDetailsThe number, your email, your message, and what we decided.How longWhile open, then as a record of the decision

We don't sell or share any of it for advertising. Read the privacy policy.

Who runs it

A small independent team in the US. We built it because friends kept getting scammed by the same scripts, and looking a number up before replying would have helped.

We're not affiliated with any carrier, dating app, marketplace, or payment app. There are no ad networks and nothing that tracks you across sites. A few pages carry one sponsored link, labelled where it appears; it pays us a commission if you sign up through it and changes nothing about what the site says. Hosting is on Vercel, the database is on Neon, email goes through Resend, and Stripe takes the payment if you subscribe. Say hello, or tell us what's broken: hello@beforeyoupickup.com.