About Scam Detective

Our Mission

We build the most comprehensive scam verification database on the internet by combining federal government complaint data, cybersecurity threat intelligence feeds, and community reports into a single, free, searchable platform.

When you search a phone number, website, email address, or company name on Scam Detective, you get an instant risk assessment backed by real data — not opinions, not user reviews, not pay-to-play ratings. Just data.

By the Numbers

Updated daily from federal data sources.

Our Data Sources

We aggregate data from 11 independent sources across government agencies, cybersecurity organizations, and community platforms:

How Our Scoring Works

Every entity in our database receives a trust score from 0 (high risk) to 100 (trusted). Scores are computed algorithmically — no human picks a number and no company can pay to change it.

Our scoring considers:

• Federal Trade Commission Do Not Call complaint history (2.6 million+ complaints per year)
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau complaint records (3.2 million+ complaints across 3,600+ companies)
• Federal Communications Commission robocall and robotext complaint data
• Better Business Bureau Scam Tracker verified victim reports
• PhishTank confirmed phishing URL database (updated hourly)
• URLhaus malware distribution URL database (updated continuously)
• OpenPhish active phishing URL feeds
• WHOIS domain registration records (registration age, registrar, hosting country)
• Have I Been Pwned data breach exposure records
• Reddit scam community reports across 21 subreddits
• Community reports submitted by users like you

When you paste a suspicious message, our content analyzer also runs 18 scam template matchers, checks for urgency language, identifies brand impersonation, and flags suspicious links — all in real time.

The Entity Graph

Scammers don't use one phone number or one website — they operate networks. A single scam campaign might use dozens of phone numbers, multiple domains, and several company names.

Scam Detective builds an interconnected entity graph that maps relationships between phone numbers, domains, emails, and companies. When we identify a connection — say, two phone numbers appearing in the same FTC complaint category, or two domains sharing the same WHOIS registrant — we link them together. This means checking one entity can reveal an entire scam network.

Accuracy & Accountability

We take accuracy seriously. Our scores are derived from verifiable government databases and established cybersecurity threat feeds — not anonymous tips or unverified user claims alone.

If you believe information on Scam Detective is inaccurate — for example, if your legitimate business phone number has been flagged due to complaint data — you can submit a dispute and we will review it.

Submit a Dispute →