Data Methodology

Where the data comes from :

DialReveal's free scam-check and complaint pages are built from FCC/FTC consumer complaint data, stored in two tables: lookup.tbFtc (one row per phone number, holding the number itself, when it was first added, and a running complaint_count) and lookup.tbFtcViolation (one row per individual complaint, holding the reported subject, the caller's stated state and city, the date the complaint was added, and whether it was flagged as a robocall). A "complaint" on this site is always one consumer-submitted record from that second table — not a call log, not a verified incident, and not an interaction DialReveal witnessed directly.

How often the numbers update :

A nightly scheduled job (00:00 Pacific time) recalculates the complaint_count shown on phone pages and used to build our sitemap, by re-counting each number's rows in tbFtcViolation. Between runs, the count on a given page reflects the complaint total as of the previous night, not the current moment.

What a paid lookup adds :

A free scam check only checks a number against the FCC/FTC complaint data described above. A paid reverse-phone lookup additionally queries Twilio's Lookup API for carrier information and a caller-name record tied to the number. An optional "Enhanced Lookup" adds a Trestle-powered addon on top of that, which can return current and historical addresses, alternate phone numbers, and associated people where Trestle has matching records. These paid results come from third-party telecom and identity data providers, not from the FCC/FTC complaint tables, and DialReveal does not independently verify them either.

Known limitations :

• Complaint volume reflects reporting behavior, not call volume. A number that received many calls but few consumer complaints will show a low count here; a number that drew a wave of complaints in the media will show a high one. Neither number measures how many calls were actually placed.
• City data is incomplete. Roughly 39% of the complaint records behind our live complaint-replay dashboard have no usable city value. Where that happens, our map falls back to an approximate, randomly jittered position near the state's center rather than a real location — it is a visualization aid, not a claim about where a call originated.
• Some historical dates are wrong. A subset of the "date added" values in the source complaint data are known to be invalid (zero or future dates), a data-entry issue in the underlying records rather than in how we display them.
• This is not a background check. DialReveal is not a consumer reporting agency and this data has not been screened for accuracy, relevance, or FCRA compliance. Do not use it to make decisions about someone's employment, housing, credit, or insurance eligibility.

Requesting a correction or removal :

If you believe a number, complaint, or lookup result associated with you is inaccurate, or you would like data about you reviewed or removed, please reach us through our Contact Us page.