The 4-layer search pipeline
You paste the charge
InstantCopy the exact string from your bank statement — exactly as it appears. For example: AMZN MKTP US 866-216-1072 or VZWRLSS*APCS VERIZON.
We check our database
< 10msWe first look for an exact match in our database of 48,000+ known charge descriptors from 190+ countries. If found, you get an instant answer in under 10ms — completely free.
Fuzzy matching for typos
< 50msIf no exact match is found, we run a fuzzy search using trigram similarity. This catches typos, partial matches, and abbreviations. "AMZON" still finds "AMAZON".
Claude AI identifies it
2-3 secIf the charge is truly unknown, we send it to Claude (Anthropic's AI) which has been trained on billions of documents including banking discussions worldwide. It identifies the company, category, and legitimacy in seconds.
Global by default
When you visit WhatIsThisCharge.net, we silently detect your country using your IP address via Cloudflare. The live feed automatically shows the most popular charges in your country — no setup required.
Crowdsourced by the community
Every time someone searches a charge and confirms or corrects our result, the database gets smarter. When Claude identifies a new charge with high confidence, it's automatically saved so the next person gets an instant free answer instead of waiting for AI.
Your privacy is protected
We never ask for your bank login
We never store your personal information
IP addresses are anonymized with one-way hashing
All connections are encrypted with HTTPS
No account required — ever
Search queries are never sold to third parties
At a Glance
Under 10ms
For known charges
2-3 seconds
For unknown charges
190+ countries
Geo-detected automatically
Zero data stored
Your privacy is safe
Found a fraudulent charge?
Generate a professional dispute letter with our AI tool.
Charge Assistant →