Short code lookup: who texted you from a 5- or 6-digit number?

1. Read the message itself. CTIA’s Short Code Monitoring Handbook expects programs to name the brand and give customer-care contact details when you sign up.
2. Check the company’s own help pages. Many companies list their short codes in their texting terms or security pages. That’s where every entry in the table below comes from.
3. Know what the registry site does. The public “Find a Short Code” page at usshortcodes.com is built for businesses choosing a code to lease. It isn’t set up as a public directory of who texts from each code.
4. Treat third-party lookup sites as leads, not answers. They can be out of date, and they don’t always agree. For 28581, for example, unofficial lookup sites name different senders.
5. Text HELP only to a program you recognize. CTIA requires short code programs to answer HELP with the program name and contact information. If the text is unexpected or asks you to act, the FCC advises not responding.

Knowing who leases a code tells you who could have sent the text. It doesn’t confirm what the message says. The FCC warns that texts can be spoofed to look like they come from a number you’re more likely to trust.

The FTC’s advice is the same whatever the sender: if you think the message might be real, contact the company using a phone number or website you know is real, not the information in the text.

• Open the app or type the website yourself and look for the alert, order, or charge.
• Don’t share a code you didn’t request. If someone calls or texts asking you to read back a verification code, that’s the warning sign.
• Don’t judge a link by the sender. Even when a company uses a short code, its messages may or may not include links. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service says USPS tracking texts come from five-digit short codes, only after you request tracking, and never include links.

Many unwanted texts don’t come from a short code at all. In 2023 the FCC called email-to-text “a major source of illegal texts.” Its order noted that texts from email addresses, rather than phone numbers, make up a significant share of fraudulent texts, and that the sender can stay anonymous. The FCC’s consumer alert lists texts that originate with an email address as something to watch for.

Companies say the same about their own messages. Amazon says texts from phone numbers you don’t recognize, or with a country code different from yours, aren’t from Amazon.

None of this makes a short code safe. It’s one more reason to verify through the company, not the message.

For a program you signed up for, CTIA’s handbook says senders should honor STOP and similar words such as END, CANCEL, QUIT, and UNSUBSCRIBE. They should send one final message confirming you’ve opted out, then nothing more. HELP must return the program name and how to contact the sender.

That’s how legitimate programs are supposed to behave. For a text you didn’t sign up for, don’t reply at all. Report it instead.

• Forward it to 7726 (SPAM). The FTC says this helps your wireless provider spot and block similar messages. The Short Code Registry explains that 7726 then asks for the sender’s number: copy it from the original message and send it.
• Use your phone’s report-junk option in Messages or your Android messaging app.
• Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
• File an FCC complaint at consumercomplaints.fcc.gov.

Already tapped the link? Use what to do after clicking a phishing link.

Each row comes from the company’s own help page or texting terms, checked October 2, 2026. Codes can be re-leased and companies change programs, so treat the source page as the authority. A listed code still doesn’t prove a particular message is genuine.

Scroll the table sideways to compare all columns.

People also search for 28581, 56592, 65821, 24255, 74454, 98626, 57513, 41389, 2300, and 2939. We didn’t find the sender’s own help page or texting terms naming any of them, so we don’t list an owner. Unofficial lookup sites do name senders for some of these codes, but we couldn’t check those claims against the company.

Four-digit numbers such as 2300 and 2939 fall outside the registry’s five- and six-digit ranges. Carriers run some shorter codes for their own services. T-Mobile’s list is one example, and it doesn’t include 2300 or 2939.

For any of these, do what you’d do with an unknown sender: don’t use the link, open the company’s app or website yourself, and report the message if it’s unwanted.