Toll-free numbers, no fluff
Toll-free calls, decoded.
800, 833, 844, 855, 866, 877, 888. Toll-free only means the business pays for the call. It doesn't mean the caller is a bank, and it doesn't mean a crook. Here's how to tell.
Pick your situation
It rang from 800 or 888
What toll-free tells you, and the one thing it never does.
I want to verify a caller
A four-step check that never uses the number on your screen.
I got a toll-free text
When STOP is right, and when to forward to 7726 instead.
Will calling back cost me?
Toll-free, 900 lines and the one-ring trap.
What a toll-free number tells you
Seven codes are toll-free in the US and Canada: 800, 833, 844, 855, 866, 877 and 888. If one of them is on your screen, the only thing you can say for sure is that the person who answers pays for the call. You can't say who they are, where they are, or whether they mean well. Banks use these numbers. So do crooks.
That gap between what the number shows and what people assume is the reason this site exists. I write short, blunt pages about the situations that actually come up: a toll-free number rang at dinner, a text came from an 800 line, a missed call looks like it wants a callback.
What this site will and won't do
The number check on this site reads the digits and reports facts about the code: toll-free or not, region, time zone, and flags like 900 premium lines or Caribbean codes. It does not know who owns a number, which carrier runs it, or whether people have reported it. I say that again on the tool page because plenty of sites imply otherwise.
What you do get is a clear next step. Verify the caller through the company's own website, don't call back strange numbers, forward bad texts to 7726, and report scams at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Latest guides
- Is it free to call a toll-free number back from your cell phone?Toll-free means the business pays for the call, but a cell phone plan can complicate that. What it costs you, what it doesn't, and the one-ring trap.
- Toll-free text messages: why you got one and what STOP doesBusinesses can text from 800-style numbers. Here is why one texted you, when replying STOP is reasonable, and when to forward the message to 7726 instead.
- Why real companies call from toll-free numbers, and how to verify oneLegit businesses use toll-free numbers on purpose. A four-step routine to verify one before you pick up again, using only the company's own website.
- Is area code 833 legit? The whole toll-free family833 is a real toll-free code, not a scam code. This page lists 800, 833, 844, 855, 866, 877 and 888 with the year each began and what to expect from them.
- Who is calling me from an 800 or 888 number?An 800 or 888 call means the number is toll-free, nothing more. Here is what that tells you, what it can't, and how to decide whether to call back.