DNC Scrub by Country during lead load

Calling a number that has asked never to be called is the kind of mistake that ends in fines. The cleanest place to stop it is before the number ever enters your dialer. When you import with the VICIdial Lead loader, the DNC Scrub by Country option compares each incoming Lead against a do-not-call list for a chosen country and keeps matches out of your list entirely.

What the option needs to work

DNC Scrub by Country only appears as a usable choice if international DNC (do not call) lists have already been loaded onto your system. Once they are present, you pick the matching country code from the pull-down and the loader scrubs against that country's list as it imports. It is disabled by default, so it is a deliberate switch you flip per import, not something that happens automatically.

Where it sits in the load pipeline

flowchart LR
  A[Parse row] --> B[Dedupe]
  B --> C[USA-Canada validate]
  C --> D[DNC scrub by country]
  D -->|Match| E[Reject lead]
  D -->|Clean| F[Time zone lookup]
  F --> G[Insert into list]

Notice that scrubbing happens alongside the other on-load checks, not as a separate hand-run chore. That is the point: the file you load comes out already filtered against the country's do-not-call data, so no agent ever sees a flagged number. It also means your dialable count reflects only numbers you are actually allowed to call, which keeps your pacing and your reporting honest from the very first dial.

The country code you select tells the loader which list to compare against, which is why this is a per-import decision rather than a global toggle. A file of UK numbers should be scrubbed against the UK list, a file of US numbers against the US one, and so on. If you run mixed-country files, split them so each batch is scrubbed against the right data; a single setting cannot serve two countries at once on one import. Keeping your imports organised by country up front saves you from awkward clean-up later.

Why load-time scrubbing matters

Compliance is easiest when bad numbers never get a chance to be dialed. Scrubbing at import means the flagged record is not in your list waiting for a tired agent or an automated recycle to call it by accident. This is separate from the campaign-level DNC that fires at dial time, and the two work best together: scrub on load to keep lists clean, and keep your campaign DNC on as a second line of defense for numbers added to the do-not-call list after the import. Treating the two as layers rather than alternatives is what keeps you covered between imports, when the rest of the world keeps opting out whether you reload or not.

For the bigger picture on how lists, leads, and compliance fit, read the VICIdial lists and leads guide. If you are still getting your bearings on lists themselves, what is a VICIdial list is the place to start.

Staying compliant starts with a properly configured dialer. VICIfast provisions a hardened VICIdial server in under 40 seconds, ready for your DNC data and your first scrubbed import. See VICIfast pricing to get going.