Introducing a powerful new Lookify feature: burner and disposable temporary phone number detection. This capability helps businesses identify temporary phone numbers commonly used to bypass SMS verification during account signup, protecting your platform from fraud and abuse.
The Problem with Temporary/Disposable Phone Numbers
Phone number verification has become a standard security measure for businesses onboarding new users. However, a growing number of services allow users to receive SMS messages to public, temporary phone numbers (often referred to as "burner" or "throwaway" numbers) that can be used to bypass verification forms entirely.
These services operate by providing users with access to phone numbers that receive SMS messages without requiring a traditional carrier subscription. Users can browse lists of available numbers, select a phone number, and receive verification codes sent to that number - all without owning or controlling the phone number long-term.
When users sign up with fake or temporary phone numbers, it creates several problems:
- Fraudulent account creation: Fake accounts created with burner numbers can be used for malicious purposes
- Promotional offer abuse: Users exploit sign-up bonuses and promotional offers by creating multiple accounts
- Increased operational costs: Sending SMS verification codes to disposable numbers wastes your SMS budget
- Platform integrity: Fake accounts can damage your platform's reputation and user trust
Available at No Additional Cost
Lookify's burner number detection is seamlessly integrated into our Threat Score API, available at no additional cost. When you request threat data for a phone number, you'll automatically receive information about whether that number has been detected on throwaway SMS receiving websites.
Our system monitors and tracks phone numbers across over 500 throwaway SMS websites, maintaining a database of hundreds of thousands of live and historical phone numbers. This extensive coverage ensures you can identify temporary numbers even if they've been used on lesser-known services.
The detection works in real-time: when you query a phone number through our Threat Score API, we check against our continuously updated database of known temporary numbers. If a match is found, the API returns this information as part of the threat assessment.
Use Cases: Protecting Your Business from Fraud & Sign-Up Abuse
The most common use case for burner number detection is preventing fraudulent account creation. By checking phone numbers during the signup process, you can:
- Block fake accounts and detect users creating multiple accounts: Identify and reject accounts created with temporary numbers before they can cause harm, and detect when the same user attempts to create multiple accounts using different temporary numbers
- Reduce manual review burden: Automatically flag suspicious signups, reducing the need for time-consuming manual investigation
- Improve conversion rates: Focus your resources on legitimate users by filtering out fraudulent signups early
- Protect promotional budgets and maintain offer integrity: Prevent fraudsters from draining your marketing budget through fake signups while ensuring promotional offers reach real customers who will engage with your platform
- Reduce SMS costs and cut down on SMS pumping fraud: Avoid sending verification codes to disposable numbers that won't convert. By detecting burner numbers before sending SMS, you can prevent SMS pumping attacks that generate fraudulent charges through verification code requests
How to Get Started
Getting started with burner number detection is simple: it's automatically included when you use our Threat Score API. No additional setup or configuration is required. Burner number detection is also available through our web results page and mobile apps.
For API Users
If you're already using the Lookify API, simply include threat in your lookup request's objects parameter. The response will include threat scoring data, including temporary number detection when applicable.
// Example API request
GET /api/v3/phone/lookup?phoneNumber=+1234567890&objects=threat
The response includes threat assessment data that flags temporary numbers as part of the overall risk evaluation.
New to Lookify's API?
- Create an account or log in to your existing account
- Generate an API key from your dashboard
- Review the API documentation to call the threat API
The Threat Score API is designed to integrate seamlessly into your existing verification workflows, requiring minimal code changes while providing powerful fraud prevention capabilities.
Using Integrations (No Code Required)
If you prefer a no-code approach, burner number detection is also available through Lookify's integrations—including Google Sheets for spreadsheet-based analysis and HubSpot for CRM contact validation.
The most powerful way to automate burner detection is through Zapier. With Zapier, you can connect Lookify's Threat Score to over 1,000+ apps and automatically flag suspicious phone numbers across your entire workflow:
- Automatically check new CRM contacts for burner numbers and update their risk status
- Flag leads in your spreadsheets that use disposable phone numbers
- Route high-risk signups to manual review queues in tools like Slack or Airtable
- Block or delay verification SMS sends when a burner number is detected
No coding required. Simply set up a Zap to trigger threat score lookups whenever a new phone number enters your system. Visit our integrations page to explore all available options and start protecting your platform from temporary number abuse.
Looking Ahead
Burner number detection represents just one aspect of Lookify's commitment to helping businesses prevent fraud and abuse. As the landscape of phone-based fraud evolves, we'll continue to expand our detection capabilities and database coverage.
Start protecting your platform today by integrating Lookify's Threat Score API into your signup process. With burner number detection included at no additional cost, you can immediately begin identifying and preventing fraudulent account creation, without adding friction for legitimate users.
