Disposable Number Detection

They go by a few different names in the industry.

Disposable Numbers, Temporary Numbers, SMS Numbers, and Virtual Numbers; they're all the same in our database, and we detect them in 71 countries.

Let's find out what they are, how they work, and how you can detect them.

What are disposable phone numbers used for?

They're used to sign up to websites when users don't want to reveal their telephone number. They're used to verify accounts on major apps. They're used to receive One Time Passcodes (#OTP) worldwide for Two Factor Authentication (#2FA) even when the user isn't in the country where the disposable number is assigned.

How do disposable phone numbers work?

Well, they're a valid phone number, for starters. Just like any valid?#E164?phone number. The secret is in the way the SMS and calls are routed. They belong to Mobile Network Operators (#MNO) and traditional phone networks in multiple countries. The telephone number range holder works with online services and provides an API where a received SMS (or phone call) routes over the internet to the disposable number reseller website.

How does a user get a disposable phone number to use on my website?

A user who wants to use a disposable number goes to a disposable number website and clicks a button to see a list of available phone numbers. Once the user has picked a suitable number, pretending to be in a relevant country, they use that telephone number to sign up for your service.

When you send the confirmation SMS or call to the number, the communication routes to the disposable number website, which presents it to the user on the disposable number website page. The user can take that telephone number and type the temporary phone number into your authentication form and pretend it is their number.

One virtual number can be used by thousands of people all at the same time. They view the received SMS on the disposable number website and find the received SMS relevant for them.

What do I do when a user registers with a disposable number?

This is a tricky one.

We can detect the usage of disposable numbers, but it's up to your business logic team to decide what to do.

There may be a valid reason why a user wants to give a disposable phone number instead of their actual phone number. After all, only some people are comfortable sharing their personal phone number with a website they just met. Some users may try to create a second account on your service, and you only allow one account per phone number.

It's recommended to have some discretion if you would or would not like to accept users who try using disposable numbers to sign up.

Some of our customers flag the account but let the user continue. Some customers block the account and request that they use their actual phone number. If fraud is a major problem, blocking fraudsters from creating fake accounts using throw-away phone numbers is usually a top priority.

How do I detect disposable numbers?

Disposable Number detection is available to customers for a monthly subscription fee which augments our existing detailed?#SS7?based Home Location Register result. By activating the subscription, we flag if the telephone number you check is a known disposable telephone number.

Now you can find out if a phone number is valid, active, ported (with date), reachable or disposable with one query.

To turn this feature on, please contact your account manager, or raise a ticket in the portal.