US brand vetting

The term Brand Vetting is used to describe many different stages within the registration process and this can often cause confusion. This section helps to provide clarity on what is required for brand vetting and gives more information about when to use it.

Brand vetting for A2P 10-Digit Long Codes (10DLC)

Brand verification

After brand registration, each brand undergoes an automated Identity Verification process. This validates the EIN, Legal Company Name, and Legal Company Address with third-party independent sources and confirms the existence of the brand with an Identity Status.

Third-party brand vetting

Third-party brand vetting is a process by which a brand requests additional vetting by a third party (for example, Aegis Mobile, WMC Mobile, or Campaign Verify for political vetting). This is a paid service.

Standard vets

Standard vets are optional and are used to gain access to higher throughput levels potentially or to help verify a brand. A standard vet is an automated review of compliance history, employee count, and so on. Once completed, a 0-100 score is provided, which determines your throughput level for some carriers.

Enhanced vets

Enhanced vets are optional and are typically requested if a user is unsatisfied with their Standard Vet score. If you have already submitted a Standard vet appeal and believe a more thorough review would yield a higher score, you can order an Enhanced vet.

Political vets

Political vets are required for non-profit brands without a 501(c)(3/4/5/6) Tax Exempt Status that want to utilize the Political special use case. If a non-profit brand has a 501(c)(3/4/5/6) Tax Exempt Status they will not be allowed to request or import a Political Vet from any vendor.

Recently there was the addition of Authentication and a process by which PUBLIC PROFIT brands registering for 10DLC must go through a 2FA process to verify these brands as part of brand identity verification.

For new brands with a Public Profit entity type, upon submission of the brand, an email address of that brand business contact must be submitted. If the email address passes TCR’s initial validation (for example, a well-formed email address, not a personal or free email address, or not a common email distribution address), then the brand identity verification process is initiated.

Brand identity verification flow

As part of brand identity verification, TCR performs a basic identity verification (matching the EIN/TaxID with the legal entity name). Next, TCR verifies whether the business email address is associated with the brand. Once the association is established, a 2FA email is sent to the brand's business contact. If either the basic identity verification or the email association check fails, the 2FA will not be triggered and the brand will change to an UNVERIFIED identity status.

2FA verification flow

The 2FA email contains a Verification PIN and a link. When the brand contact clicks on the link, they are directed to a site and are prompted to enter the following information:

• Brand Contact First Name
• Brand Contact Last Name
• Brand Contact Job Title
• Verification PIN from the 2FA email

The brand contact will then click a COMPLETE button to submit the information. Once the 2FA is complete, the brand will transition to a VERIFIED state and brands are able to register campaigns.

Helpful hints:

• The 2FA email will come from [email protected]
  • It is recommended that you whitelist this email address to ensure the messages are received
• If you have any problem with completing the verification from the link in the email
  • Try turning off or pausing your VPN
  • Try a different browser
  • Try copying and pasting the URL into a browser directly
• In the event a brand is still unable to complete the verification, contact TCR for support (if you are registering directly in TCR as a CSP) or you can reach out to [email protected] if you are registering via IB USRA or API

Brand vetting for US short codes

Brand vetting by Aegis Mobile

The CTIA and the US Short Code Registry have implemented a new requirement for leasing new short codes during the renewal of existing short codes (that weren’t formally vetted). All brands now need to complete a vetting process aimed at enhancing consumer protection and improving transparency.

Once a brand is successfully vetted for short code leases, end brands do not need to go through the entire vetting process again when leasing another code. However, every year, brands need to complete 2FA verification from Aegis. The verification email is sent to the end brand client email on file. However, if there is a transfer of the lease, the brand must undergo vetting again. At this time, there are no fees associated with this vetting process.

Net new short code lease brand vetting and existing short codes prior to renewal

When applying for a new short code lease, you must provide the following:

• Legal Company Name
• Legal Entity Type
• Doing Business As (DBA)
• Country of Registration
• Stock Market Symbol
• Company Website URL
• Federal Tax ID
• DUNS, GIIN, LEI (if applicable)
• Brand Address
• Brand Point of Contact
• First Name
• Last Name
• Phone Number
• Email

Aegis Mobile will complete an initial verification process where the confirmation ensures that the legal name and FEIN match, that the brand contact email is valid and relates to the company’s published URL, and an authentication process is triggered. The authentication process requires a 2FA PIN to be sent to the brand’s email point of contact from [email protected], the brand then should verify by clicking the VERIFY button in the email or visiting the URL and providing the 2FA PIN. See the image below.

If the criteria are not met, an INCOMPLETE status is issued without further processing. Status indicates that certain information does not meet the needs for completing the vetting activity.

For short codes managed by Infobip, Infobip sends an email to the content provider contact, advising them of the reasoning and that they must provide correct information for resubmission. If the content provider wants to appeal, provide a copy of the CP-575 notice (EIN confirmation letter issues by IRS) for further review by Aegis Mobile.

The following are helpful hints to aid in the vetting process:

• Email comes from [email protected]
• Match the Federal Tax ID (FEIN) and Legal Entity name, match email address, website URL and address from the CP-575 notice (EIN confirmation letter issued by IRS)
• Brand Point of Contact email matches the company URL (Free email service isn’t permitted, if the company doesn’t have a company domain, these are viewed on a case-by-case basis)