Reading a Scrub Report: What Every Field Actually Means

Running a scrub is only half the job — the report it produces is what actually protects you, but only if you know how to read it. Here's a field-by-field walkthrough of what a good scrub report should tell you.

Total numbers checked

The starting count. This should match how many contacts were actually in your uploaded file — if it doesn't, some rows were likely dropped during parsing (bad formatting, missing values), and those numbers were never actually checked at all.

DNC hits

Numbers that matched the Do Not Call registry data being checked against. Each one represents a number a real consumer registered specifically to opt out — these should come out of your dial list entirely, not just get flagged for later review.

Honeypot hits

Numbers that matched known honeypot or litigator data — planted numbers or numbers with documented TCPA activity, as covered in our DNC vs. honeypot vs. litigator comparison. This is a separate risk category from DNC hits and should be treated with at least equal weight, not as a secondary concern.

Clean count

Total checked minus DNC hits minus honeypot hits — the numbers actually safe to move forward to your dialer. This is your real usable list size, which is often meaningfully smaller than the number of rows you started with.

Cost / coins charged

What the scrub cost to run, tied to how many numbers were checked and against which data sources. Keeping this on the report ties your compliance spend directly to list size, which is useful for budgeting future campaigns.

Timestamp

When the scrub ran. This is the field that matters most if your process is ever questioned — it's the evidence that you checked this specific list against current data before you dialed it, not weeks or months earlier. Combined with the re-scrub cadence in our re-scrubbing guide, this is what a real documented compliance process looks like.

What to actually do with the report

• Keep it on file — don't just act on it and discard it.
• Only dial the clean count, not the full uploaded list.
• Treat DNC and honeypot hits as separate line items when reviewing results, not one combined "flagged" bucket.

Every scrub on Carrier Fence produces a report with all of these fields, downloadable and ready to keep on file. Try it free — 500 coins on signup.