Post a listing without the spam calls: how Prayk protects your phone number

On classifieds sites the biggest complaint isn't the listing itself — it's what starts afterwards: service pitches, "I'll buy it on credit" schemes, robocalls. Almost all of it comes from phone numbers being harvested in bulk. On Prayk that route is closed.

The number isn't in the response

On most classifieds sites the number sits right in the page source — one script can walk thousands of pages and collect every phone. On Prayk the full number is never sent with the listing data: the response carries only a masked version (for example +994 50 *** ** 67).

The full number opens only on a click

When you press "Show number", the browser asks the server for a short-lived signed key: it is tied to that listing and that visitor, expires after 15 minutes and cannot be forged from outside. Only then is the number revealed.

On top of that, reveals are rate-limited per visitor and per IP address — a script cannot work down the catalog "opening" thousands of listings to collect phones. A normal visitor never notices any of this: one click and the number is on screen with the call button live.

For sellers: who actually cared

The protection also hands sellers useful data. The statistics section shows two numbers per listing: views and how many times the phone was revealed. The second is the real-interest signal — plenty of views with few reveals usually means the price is above market.

Removing the number entirely

If you would rather no listings carried your number, use the report button on the listing page — the listings are removed and that number is no longer collected.

Buyers have routes other than calling, too: the built-in chat and WhatsApp. The fraud guard inside chat is explained in this article.