How to Check If Your Number Is on the Do Not Call Registry

To check if your number is on the Do Not Call Registry, go to DoNotCall.gov and use the verification form, or call 1-888-382-1222 from the phone you want to check. Both options are free, and you’ll have an answer in about two minutes.

Check Online at DoNotCall.gov

Open the verification page and enter up to three phone numbers along with an email address. Submit the form, and the system sends a confirmation email showing whether each number is registered and, if it is, the date it was added.¹

Type the email address carefully. If the confirmation doesn’t show up within a few minutes, check your spam folder before trying again.²

Check by Phone

Call 1-888-382-1222 from the number you want to verify. TTY users should call 1-866-290-4236. An automated system will tell you whether the number you’re calling from is on the registry.²

You have to call from the actual number in question. The phone method doesn’t let you check a different line.

What the Confirmation Tells You

The email or automated response confirms two things: whether the number is on the list, and the registration date if it is. That date matters because telemarketers have up to 31 days to update their calling lists after a number is added. If your registration is more recent than 31 days and you’re still getting sales calls from legitimate companies, that’s a violation worth reporting. If your number has been listed for years, the registry considers it permanently registered unless it’s disconnected and reassigned or you call from that phone and specifically ask to be removed.²

If Your Number Isn’t Registered

Adding a number takes about the same amount of time as checking. On the website, enter the phone number and your email address, then watch for a verification email. Click the link inside within 72 hours or the registration won’t go through. Both landlines and cell phones can be registered.²

To register by phone, call 1-888-382-1222 from the number you want on the list. Your number generally appears on the registry the next day, but sales calls can continue for up to 31 days while telemarketers refresh their lists.²

There’s no expiration date. Once a number is on the list, it stays on the list.

What Being on the List Actually Does

The registry stops sales calls from law-abiding businesses. Telemarketers who want to make lawful sales calls have to pay to download the registry each year and scrub their call lists against it.³

Several categories of calls remain legal even when your number is registered:

Political campaigns and organizations.
Charities calling on their own behalf. Telemarketers hired by a charity are still covered by the rules.
Legitimate survey calls, as long as they don’t pivot into a sales pitch.
Debt collectors.
Informational calls like appointment reminders and delivery updates, provided they don’t include a sales pitch.
Companies you’ve recently done business with, for up to 18 months after your last purchase or payment. If you only made an inquiry or submitted an application, that window shrinks to three months.

For any of those, you can still tell the specific company to stop calling, and they have to honor that request.²⁴

Two more limits worth knowing. Business phone lines generally aren’t protected: calls made to a business trying to sell to that business are exempt from the rules.⁴ And unsolicited marketing text messages are handled under separate FCC rules that apply whether or not your number is on the registry.⁵

The Registry Doesn’t Stop Scam Calls

This is the part most people are surprised by. The registry doesn’t block calls. It’s a list that legitimate telemarketers are required to check before dialing. Scammers ignore it, operate from anywhere in the world, and account for most of the unwanted calls people actually receive. The FTC logged more than 2.6 million Do Not Call complaints in fiscal year 2025, and a large share involved callers who never intended to comply in the first place.⁶

If you get a robocall selling something and you never gave that company written permission to call, the call is illegal no matter what your registry status says. Verifying or adding your number is still worth doing because it silences the legitimate end of the noise. It won’t touch the scam calls.²

Reporting Calls When You’re Already Registered

If your number has been on the registry for more than 31 days and a legitimate-looking company is still calling to sell you something, file a complaint at DoNotCall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222. Include your phone number, the number that showed up on caller ID (even if you suspect it was spoofed), any callback number you were given, and the date and time of the call.²

The FCC accepts unwanted-call and robocall complaints separately at fcc.gov/complaints. It doesn’t resolve individual reports, but uses them to guide enforcement and rulemaking.⁷ The FTC uses the same complaint data to identify patterns and build cases against repeat violators.

1
Federal Trade Commission. National Do Not Call Registry – Verify a Registration
2
Federal Trade Commission. National Do Not Call Registry FAQs
3
Federal Trade Commission. The Do Not Call Registry
4
Federal Trade Commission. Q&A for Telemarketers and Sellers About DNC Provisions in TSR
5
Federal Communications Commission. Stop Unwanted Robocalls and Texts
6
Federal Trade Commission. National Do Not Call Registry Data Book for Fiscal Year 2025
7
FCC Consumer Help Center. Unwanted Calls/Texts – Phone