# OPS-154 — Where the numbers came from matters

> Volume must not originate from SIM boxes, SIM farms, or disposable, rental or temporary telephone numbers.

- **Rule ID:** OPS-154
- **Layer:** Operational (`OPERATIONAL`)
- **Checks:** `originating number provenance`
- **Severity:** BLOCKING — Breaking this rule gets the submission rejected outright.
- **When it bites:** Falls due after approval, once you are live and sending
- **How it is detected:** External record we cannot query — reported as a warning to verify
- **Fix type:** Hard stop — not remediable, resubmission will not help
- **Required by:** CTIA
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/operational/ops-154/

## Why this rule exists

These are the origination methods that exist to be untraceable, so their presence is treated as evidence about the sender rather than about the traffic. The industry watches for ten or more activations by one party in a short window and a single location, which means a legitimate business scaling quickly through the wrong supplier can trip a fraud signal it never knew existed.

## How to fix it

Provision numbers through a licensed carrier or CPaaS in the brand's own name, and keep the assignment records. Refuse any supplier that cannot say who the numbers are registered to.

## Check this yourself

**Who are your sending numbers registered to, and how were they obtained?**

1. Get the assignment records from whoever provisioned them.
2. Refuse any supplier that cannot say who the numbers are registered to — that answer is the whole check.
3. Provision through a licensed carrier or CPaaS in the brand's own name.

*What wrong looks like:* Ten or more activations by one party in a short window from a single location is the industry's fraud signature. A legitimate business scaling quickly through the wrong supplier trips it without ever knowing it existed.

## Notes

Provenance held by whoever assigned the numbers. What the user has to establish is exactly that — who the numbers are registered to and how they were obtained — before volume makes the question urgent. OPS-021 is the ownership-documentation half.