Community Guidelines

ScamVerify™ is a community-powered threat verification platform. These guidelines apply to all community reports submitted across our verification channels: phone numbers, websites, text messages, emails, documents, and QR codes.

1. What You Can Report

Phone Numbers

• Scam calls (IRS impersonation, tech support scams, prize/lottery scams, investment fraud)
• Robocalls and automated messages
• Aggressive telemarketers or calls ignoring Do Not Call requests
• Debt collector calls
• Silent calls or immediate hang-ups
• Wrong numbers
• Legitimate business numbers (positive reports help others know a number is safe)

Websites

• Phishing sites impersonating legitimate businesses
• Fake online stores or fraudulent marketplaces
• Malware distribution sites
• Tech support scam pages
• Legitimate websites (positive reports help others verify safety)

Text Messages and Emails

• Phishing messages requesting personal information or login credentials
• Fake delivery notifications with suspicious links
• Verification code scams
• Impersonation of banks, government agencies, or service providers
• Any unsolicited message containing suspicious links or urgent demands

2. What You Cannot Report

The following content will be removed and may result in a ban:

Personal Disputes

• Reports about ex-partners, family members, or neighbors
• Personal vendettas or targeted harassment
• Disputes between private individuals unrelated to scams or fraud

Privacy Violations

• Full names of private individuals
• Home or work addresses
• Personal social media profiles
• Any personally identifiable information beyond what is needed for a scam report

False or Misleading Information

• Intentionally false reports
• Reports you know to be inaccurate
• Reports designed to harm legitimate businesses or individuals

Harmful Content

• Profanity or vulgar language
• Hate speech or discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or any protected characteristic
• Threats of violence
• Content promoting illegal activity

3. Report Quality Guidelines

Every report is assigned a quality score by our AI moderation system. Higher-quality reports have more impact on risk scores and are more helpful to the community.

Be Truthful

• Only report your actual experiences
• Do not exaggerate or fabricate details
• Select the report type that most accurately describes what happened

Be Specific

• Describe what the caller said, what the website showed, or what the message contained
• Note any names or organizations mentioned
• Include details that help others recognize the same scam

Be Respectful

• No profanity or vulgar language
• No personal attacks
• Keep reports focused on the scam or suspicious activity

4. Comment Restrictions

Report comments are limited to 200 characters and are automatically screened. The following are not allowed in comments:

• URLs or links
• Email addresses
• Emojis
• Excessive capitalization (more than 50% uppercase letters)
• Excessive punctuation (e.g., !!! or ???)

5. Prohibited Behavior

The following behavior may result in an immediate and permanent ban:

• Submitting false or misleading reports to harm legitimate businesses or individuals
• Submitting multiple reports on the same target to manipulate risk scores
• Automated or bot-generated submissions
• Attempting to circumvent rate limits or bans
• Using the platform for harassment or doxxing
• Any illegal activity

6. How Your Reports Are Used

Risk Scoring

Community reports directly affect the risk scores displayed on ScamVerify™. Reports classified as helpful by our AI carry more weight. Reports classified as spam or abusive are excluded from scoring.

AI Analysis

Our AI reviews reports to identify scam patterns, generate community summaries, and improve detection accuracy across all channels.

Anonymity

Your identity is never displayed publicly. We collect device fingerprints and IP addresses only for rate limiting, abuse prevention, and ban enforcement. This information is never shown to other users.

7. Enforcement

Violations of these guidelines are handled through our Content Moderation Policy. Depending on the severity, violations may result in content removal, restricted access, or a permanent ban from submitting reports.

8. Reporting Violations

If you see content that violates these guidelines, please report it through our contact form. Select "Report False/Abusive Content" as the subject and include the phone number or URL in question.

9. Changes to These Guidelines

We may update these guidelines at any time. Changes take effect immediately upon posting. Continued use of ScamVerify™ after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated guidelines.

10. Contact

If you have questions about these guidelines, please use our contact form.