Privacy policy

5number provides temporary and rented virtual phone numbers used to receive SMS verification codes. In this policy, “we” and “us” mean 5number, and “you” means anyone using the service.

For questions about this policy or about your data, contact us through the details on our website.

Account information. Your email address and a password, which is stored in hashed form by our authentication provider and is never visible to us in plain text.

Transaction records. Your wallet balance, top-ups, and a record of every number you buy or rent — the service, country, price and time.

SMS content. Messages received on numbers you have bought or rented pass through our systems so we can show them to you. We store them so your order history is complete.

Technical information. Standard server logs including IP address, browser type and timestamps, used for security and to diagnose faults.

We do not collect your name, physical address, or government identification, and we do not ask for them.

Card numbers and bank details are never sent to or stored on our servers. Payments are processed by Paystack, who handle your payment details directly under their own privacy policy. We receive only a confirmation that a payment succeeded, the amount, and a reference so we can credit your wallet.

We use the information above only to:

• Provide the service — issuing numbers and delivering the messages they receive
• Maintain your wallet balance and order history
• Detect and prevent fraud, abuse and unauthorised access
• Respond to your support requests
• Meet legal obligations where they apply to us

We do not sell your information, and we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers.

We share the minimum necessary with the providers who make the service work: our SMS number supplier (to issue numbers and retrieve messages), our payment processor (to take payments), our hosting and database providers (to run the service), and our email provider (to send verification codes). Each processes data on our behalf.

We may disclose information where we are legally required to, such as a valid order from a competent authority.

Account and transaction records are kept for as long as your account exists, and for a period afterwards where needed for accounting, dispute resolution or legal obligations.

Message content associated with an order is kept with that order's history. If you would like specific messages deleted sooner, contact us and we will remove them where we are not required to retain them.

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access the information we hold about you, correct it if it is wrong, ask for it to be deleted, object to certain processing, or receive a copy in a portable format.

To exercise any of these, contact us. We may need to verify that the request comes from the account holder before acting on it.

Data is transmitted over encrypted connections and stored with access controls limiting who can reach it. Passwords are hashed by our authentication provider. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong, unique password and tell us promptly if you suspect unauthorised access to your account.

This matters more than anything else in this policy, so please read it carefully. The numbers we provide are temporary and may be reissued to another customer after your order ends. Anyone who later holds that number could receive messages sent to it.

For that reason, do not use our numbers for anything you need permanent or exclusive control over — bank accounts, government services, primary email recovery, or any account holding money or sensitive personal data. Treat every number as disposable.

We use cookies that are necessary for the service to function, principally to keep you signed in. We do not use advertising or third-party tracking cookies.

The service is not intended for anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we will remove it.

We may update this policy as the service changes. The date at the top shows when it was last revised, and material changes will be signposted in the product.