Check the seller's phone number before you buy: 6 facts, 10 signals and what Prayk does not say

Check a phone number is a free Prayk tool: you type in the seller's phone number and the system shows everything Prayk knows about it on one card — how long it has been around, how many listings, on how many sites it appeared, whether there are complaints, copied listings or chat warnings. The tool gives no verdict and reveals nobody's name — the decision is the buyer's. This is a practical guide: how to check a number, what each of the 10 signals means, when to be careful and what Prayk does not do with this tool.

The page lives at /en/check and appears in the header menu as "Check a phone number". The same card is on every listing page too: the "Phone history" line next to the "Show phone" button — you type nothing there, the system checks the listing's own contact number, and "Details" opens the full card. As of 6 October the catalogue holds over 676,000 listings and over 7,000 stores; a number is recognised both across these listings and across the more than 30 classifieds sites Prayk tracks.

How to use it in three steps

Enter the number in any format — "050 xxx xx xx" or "+994 50 xxx xx xx"; spaces and brackets do not matter. If the input cannot be read, the page says "Number not recognised".
Press "Check" — a card opens: the masked number on top (the last 6 digits replaced by asterisks), colour-coded signals below, then 6 fact cells: "Live listings", "Total listings", "Source sites", "First seen", "Complaints", "Copied listings".
The live-listings count is clickable — it expands the number's current listings: newest first, with title, price, city and date, at most 24 listings in the list.

The checked number goes into the address bar — the link can be shared or bookmarked, and the check runs automatically when it is opened. The limit is 20 checks per hour from one IP address: normal use is unaffected, bulk scanning is cut off. A result is kept for 15 minutes, so a listing published today may show up on the card a few minutes late. No registration is required.

The 10 signals and what each one means

Signals come in four colours, and negative ones are always shown first — the buyer should see them before anything else.

Red — "Complaints": how many complaints were filed against this number's listings through the complaint button on a listing page.
Red — "Chat warnings": how many messages from the account tied to the number were flagged in Prayk chat for the "send a deposit first" pattern; we described that protection separately.
Amber — "Copied listings": how many of the number's listings are flagged as copies of someone else's (the photos were published by another seller first).
Amber — "New number": the number has been known for less than 30 days. This is not proof of fraud — every honest seller has a first listing; that is why the same fact is shown in neutral colour, not amber, on the listing page line.
Green — "Known for N months": more than 30 days have passed since first seen. First seen is the earliest of three dates: the first listing on Prayk, the first appearance on a source site and the account registration.
Green — "Linked to an official store": the number belongs to the owner of an active store on Prayk; the store's name and a link to its page are shown — that is public information anyway.
Green — "Currently has N live listings": at least 3 active listings.
Green — "Has a Prayk account": the account was registered more than 180 days ago.
Grey — "Not known": no listings, no trace on source sites, no account. On its own this is not a bad sign — there are simply no facts to check.
Grey — "No live listings right now": there were listings, but all of them are archived.

When to be careful

If there are complaints or chat warnings — make no advance payment of any kind without seeing the item.
New number + a price well below the market + a deposit request — the classic trio of fraud schemes; we explained the schemes and their signs in a separate guide.
If there are copied listings, the photos may have been taken from someone else's listing: paste the listing's link on the Check by link page — the Check a listing report shows the gap to the market price, the copies and the original source.
"Not known" only means we have no facts — the seller may simply never have posted on Prayk. The general rules then apply: meet in daylight in a busy place, inspect the item on the spot, pay after you receive it.
Green signals are no guarantee either: a long history and a store reduce the risk, they do not remove it.

What Prayk does not do with this tool

It gives no verdict. There is no "trustworthy / not trustworthy" label on the card, and the note at the bottom says so plainly: these are facts, not a verdict. A wrong label would ruin a real seller's business.
It reveals no name, address or e-mail. Only counts and badges; the number itself is masked on the card too — the phone protection rule applies here as well.
It shows no hidden listings. Only published listings make the list; archived listings and those under moderation cannot be found with this tool.
It names no site. "Source sites" is a count only — which site the number appeared on is not stated.
It does not send the number from the browser on a listing page. For "Phone history" the system takes the listing's number itself — you can check without even revealing the number.
It does not count a seller who re-posts their own listing as a "copy". A copy is only a repeat of someone else's listing.

The tool is a statistical summary of listings that are already public for a number — it creates no new data. What is stored about your own account is explained in the account and privacy article; articles about the other checking tools are collected in the news section.