Phone Number Trace

Reverse-lookup a SA mobile — for fraud prevention

Search a South African mobile number in the VerifyNow dashboard and get back the recorded subscriber's ID number, surname, first name and any alternate number on file — in seconds. Provided exclusively for fraud detection and fraud prevention under NCA Regulation 18(4)(b) and POPIA Section 11(1)(f).

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Legal basis

Legal basis

VerifyNow provides this service exclusively for fraud detection and fraud prevention purposes — a prescribed purpose under Regulation 18(4)(b) of the National Credit Act (2005) and a recognised legitimate interest of the responsible party under Section 11(1)(f) of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). By using this service you confirm your legal basis for processing is fraud prevention. Any other use is prohibited by our terms. Data subjects retain the right to object to processing under Section 11(3) of POPIA, and such objections must be honoured.

Response

What a Phone Trace returns

Search a South African mobile number from the VerifyNow dashboard and get back who it belongs to — with the fields below.

Subscriber
ID numberSurnameFirst name
Numbers
Primary numberAlternate number
Audit trail
Transaction referenceEnvironmentTimestamp
Phone trace result
Thandeka Ndlovu
ID 9710225015088
Matched
Primary number+27 82 555 1847
Secondary number+27 11 234 5678
Person tied to the numbersThandeka Ndlovu · ID 9710225015088
Reverse lookup by ID or by phone number · TRX-SAMPLE-2026-0002 · Returned under Reg 18(4)(b) NCA / POPIA s11(1)(f)
Use cases

Fraud-prevention use cases

Every scenario below is a permitted fraud detection / fraud prevention application.

Onboarding KYC

Resolve a mobile number given at sign-up to the recorded subscriber so you can flag impersonation before account creation.

Payment Fraud Response

Investigate a suspicious transaction by confirming that the contact number on file matches the recorded subscriber.

Suspected Impersonation

When a customer disputes a call or SMS, reverse-lookup the number to verify whether it corresponds to a recorded subscriber.

Supplier / Courier Verification

Before releasing a payment, delivery or credential to a contact number, confirm the recorded subscriber matches expectation.

Account Takeover Investigation

During incident response, resolve the mobile number that was added to the profile to the ID and name on record.

Returned-Contact Recovery

Re-establish contact with a customer whose previous number is unreachable by verifying an alternate number before outreach.

Real-time results

Search a number in the dashboard and get the subscriber back in seconds.

Confirmed subscriber

ID number, surname, first name plus an alternate recorded number.

Audit-logged

Every lookup is logged with a fraud-prevention attestation record.

Dashboard-first

Run traces from the VerifyNow dashboard — no code required.

Data sources

Our data sources

Official government registries and licensed South African data sources. We cite the statutory authority for processing (NCA Regulation 18(4)(b) and POPIA Section 11(1)(f)) directly; we do not disclose individual providers in public copy.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is my legal basis for using this service?

Phone Number Trace is provided exclusively for fraud detection and fraud prevention — a prescribed purpose under Regulation 18(4)(b) of the National Credit Act (2005) and a recognised legitimate interest of the responsible party under Section 11(1)(f) of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). By using this service you confirm your legal basis for processing is fraud prevention.

What purposes am I permitted to use this for?

Fraud detection and fraud prevention only. Examples include validating a caller who claims to be a customer, resolving a mobile number associated with a suspicious transaction, verifying supplier or courier contacts before payment, and investigating impersonation or account-takeover incidents. Any other use is prohibited by our terms.

What data is returned in a Phone Number Trace response?

A successful response includes the subscriber's ID number, surname, first name, and a primary and alternate recorded mobile number (where available). Every response also includes a transaction reference and an environment and timestamp so you can audit the lookup.

How quickly do I get results?

Responses typically return in under five seconds, whether your team is operating in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria or elsewhere in South Africa. Available via the VerifyNow dashboard.

What if the data subject objects to the processing?

Data subjects retain the right to object on reasonable grounds under Section 11(3) of POPIA. If you receive such an objection you must stop processing and inform VerifyNow so the lookup record can be flagged. Section 18 of POPIA also governs notifications to data subjects about purpose and legal basis where feasible.

Where does the data come from?

Official government registries and licensed South African data sources. We do not disclose individual providers in public copy; we cite the statutory authority (NCA Regulation 18(4)(b) and POPIA Section 11(1)(f)) that permits the processing.

Does it work for landlines or only mobile?

Phone Number Trace is optimised for South African mobile numbers (MTN, Vodacom, Cell C, Telkom Mobile, Rain). Landline coverage is more limited because registration records are thinner; we recommend Consumer Trace for ID-led lookups that include multiple recorded numbers.

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