Does a phone lookup return a NIN or BVN?

No. It returns names and date of birth only, on every tier.

Does it prove the customer holds the phone?

No. It shows whose identity the number is linked to; use OTP Ownership to prove possession.

Identity

Phone identity lookup for corroboration

Compare the name and date of birth linked to a mobile number with what your customer told you, as a signal next to a primary ID check.

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What it does

Phone Identity, in detail.

Name and birth date match

field_matches says which supplied details agree, and field_confidence scores each name 0–100, tolerant of nicknames.

Masked by default

Assertion responses return masked names and match flags; full-tier workspaces receive the normalized fields.

Pairs with signals and OTP

Add SIM-swap recency and an OTP ownership check on the same number to defend against account takeover.

Number formats checked first

Accepts 070, 071, 080, 081, 090 and 091 numbers in local or +234 form; anything else is rejected before lookup.

How it works

From request to decision.

1
POST /v1/verify/phone
Send the number, purpose code, consent attestation and the fields to compare.
2
Compare
Read match, field_matches and field_confidence.
3
Step up on mismatch
Route mismatches to an OTP check, a face match or your review queue.

Routing and providers

Phone lookups use NIBSS Phone Number Validation, offered as corroboration rather than primary identity.

Use it

One request. One normalized response.

Call POST /v1/verify/phone through @speedmap/node, speedmap for Python.

Read the guide API reference

Request

curl -X POST http://localhost:4000/v1/verify/phone \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_test_..." \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "phone": "08031234567",
  "reason": "financialProducts",
  "consent": {
    "obtained": true
  },
  "match": {
    "last_name": "Griffin"
  }
}'

Response · 200 OK

{
  "reference_id": "spm_7830855f68f893ba6cb4fa95",
  "object": "verification",
  "product": "phone",
  "method": "phone_lookup",
  "status": "verified",
  "match": true,
  "field_matches": {
    "last_name": true
  },
  "mode": "sandbox",
  "subject": "*******4567",
  "summary": {
    "first_name": "A*****",
    "last_name": "O*****",
    "repeat_count_30d": 1,
    "repeat_platform_bucket": "0"
  }
}

Use cases

Where Nigerian teams use it.

Signup corroboration

Flag wallet signups where the number is linked to someone other than the applicant.

Account takeover defence

Re-check the number, with a SIM-swap signal, when credentials or devices change.

Agent and merchant onboarding

Confirm the settlement phone number belongs to the merchant you verified.

Part of:Mobility & logistics

What you get back

The fields you will read.

Field	Meaning
status	verified when the number is linked to a record, otherwise not_found
match / field_matches	Agreement with the name and date of birth you supplied
field_confidence	0–100 per name field, tolerant of nicknames and spellings
subject	The phone number, masked
summary	Masked first and last name, repeat-subject counters

status
Meaning
verified when the number is linked to a record, otherwise not_found
match / field_matches
Meaning
Agreement with the name and date of birth you supplied
field_confidence
Meaning
0–100 per name field, tolerant of nicknames and spellings
subject
Meaning
The phone number, masked
summary
Meaning
Masked first and last name, repeat-subject counters

Assertion tier

Masked names and match flags only.

Full tier

Adds data: the linked names and date of birth. A phone lookup never returns a NIN or BVN on any tier.

Pricing

Billed per live check on the Scale up plan. Failed calls and idempotent retries are never billed.

Documentation See pricing plans

FAQ

Phone Identity questions.

Need more detail? Read the documentation or talk to our team.

Does a phone lookup return a NIN or BVN?: No. It returns names and date of birth only, on every tier.
Does it prove the customer holds the phone?: No. It shows whose identity the number is linked to; use OTP Ownership to prove possession.

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