Industries

How can a financial services firm check contact details and networks at sign up?

Run the email domain, the phone number and the connecting IP through one API at application time and keep the results with the file. Reviewers get facts about each signal, such as the mail setup, the number type and the network owner, and make their own call.

The problem

Account applications arrive with contact details that nobody has tested yet. A reviewer sees an email on a domain they have never heard of, a phone number in an unfamiliar format and a connection from a network they cannot place, and has to look each one up by hand.

Fraud losses reported to the FTC run into the billions each year, which is why contact details and the networks behind a request get a closer look at financial firms. A team that can see the same facts for every applicant works faster and more evenly.

The signals are small on their own. Together, and logged with the application, they give a second reviewer something to read without repeating the work.

The FTC received 3 million fraud reports from consumers in 2025, who reported $15.9 billion in losses. 2025. FTC testimony before the Joint Economic Committee on efforts to combat fraud, read 2026-10-18.

What LookValid does for this

LookValid products for Financial services
Check	What it gives you	Credits
Read the mail setup behind the address	Returns MX records, SPF and DMARC and flags for disposable domains, free providers and role mailboxes. It never contacts the mail server and cannot confirm a mailbox exists.	1 credit per address checked
Check the number against its plan	Returns standard formats, the country and the number type the numbering plan assigns, such as mobile, fixed line or VoIP. It cannot say whether the number is active or who the carrier is.	1 credit per valid number
Log the network behind the session	Returns location, network owner and flags for hosting ranges and Tor exit nodes from open data, so a reviewer can compare the connection with the address on the application.	1 credit per lookup
Check the age of a business domain	For business applicants, returns the registration, update and expiry dates and the registrar from the public RDAP service, with the age in days.	2 credits per registered domain (unregistered domains are free)

A real request and response

This request checks the domain behind an applicant email. The response shows the records found and the flags a reviewer can read next to the rest of the application.

POST /v1/email-domain-check

1{
2  "email": "info@example.com"
3}

Response, captured 2026-10-18

1{
2  "found": true,
3  "data": {
4    "email": "info@example.com",
5    "syntax_valid": true,
6    "domain": "example.com",
7    "mx_records": [],
8    "has_mx": false,
9    "null_mx": true,
10    "implicit_mx": false,
11    "spf": {
12      "record": "v=spf1 -all",
13      "record_count": 1,
14      "policy": "-all",
15      "valid": true,
16      "issues": []
17    },
18    "dmarc": {
19      "record": "v=DMARC1;p=reject;sp=reject;adkim=s;aspf=s",
20      "record_count": 1,
21      "policy": "reject",
22      "subdomain_policy": "reject",
23      "pct": null,
24      "rua": [],
25      "valid": true,
26      "issues": []
27    },
28    "disposable": false,
29    "free_provider": false,
30    "role_account": true,
31    "smtp_checked": false,
32    "deliverability_signal": "undeliverable",
33    "deliverability_reasons": [
34      {
35        "code": "null_mx",
36        "message": "The domain publishes a null MX record, which means it does not accept email."
37      },
38      {
39        "code": "role_account",
40        "message": "The address is a shared role mailbox such as info@ or support@, not a person."
41      }
42    ]
43  }
44}

This is one real run of Email Domain Check against a fixed public input, captured 2026-10-18. Sources: Public DNS (MX, TXT); Open disposable-email-domain and free-provider lists.

Questions

Does LookValid verify a customer identity?

No. It returns facts about an email domain, a number format and a network address from public data. It does not confirm who a person is, and it is not a replacement for the checks your firm already performs.

Can the phone check tell me the current carrier?

The phone check is a numbering-plan check and returns no carrier. For US numbers, the carrier lookup returns the carrier originally assigned the number block, which may differ from the current one if the number was ported.

Can I store the results with the application file?

Yes. Every response has a fixed shape, so you can save the JSON next to the application. Each lookup returns its own date information where the source provides it.

Sources

FTC testimony before the Joint Economic Committee on efforts to combat fraud https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/03/ftc-testifies-joint-economic-committee-agencys-efforts-combat-fraud, read 2026-10-18

LookValid is run by Meralume Labs. It is not connected to, endorsed by or a partner of any company or product named on this page, and every product name belongs to its owner.

LookValid bills every lookup in credits from one shared balance, so one key covers each check on this page.

See Email Domain Check