How to verify a broker
A repeatable verification workflow over public registers — before the first load, wire, policy, or advisory account.
Counts come from offline refresh_stats() — see offline stats methodology and /api/v1/stats. Page updated 2026-09-28.
Direct answer
To verify a broker: (1) match the legal name, (2) re-check every license or file number on the official register named by the source badge, (3) confirm jurisdiction and active status for the activity you need, (4) insist on written fees and matching payment instructions, (5) keep a dated packet of what you checked. BrokerMafia is an index — not a license confirmation.
Start from evidence, not marketing
Marketing sites, rate quotes, and social proof are not authority. Start from a public register or from a BrokerMafia profile that already names a source badge, then leave BrokerMafia to finish the check on the regulator’s site.
If you only have a brand name, use Search to find candidate profiles, then open each source badge. If you already have an MC, CRD, or state license number, search by that ID first — IDs beat fuzzy names.
Step-by-step verification
- Legal name. Copy it from the register. Match contracts, invoices, and payment beneficiaries to that string.
- File numbers. Re-type MC/FF/MX, USDOT, CRD, NMLS, insurance agency/producer IDs, FMC OTI, FinCEN MSB, CFTC/NFA, or foreign register IDs into the official lookup.
- Status. Confirm active/authorized language on the day you commit. Yesterday’s screenshot is stale.
- Scope. Confirm the product, corridor, and geography fit the authority.
- Commercial terms. Written fees, dispute path, and payment instructions naming the licensed entity.
- Packet. Save URLs, timestamps, status strings, and PDFs for your file.
When two firms look identical, do not guess — open both rows. See identity matching.
Register map by desk type
Freight / property broker. FMCSA Licensing & Insurance / SAFER for MC and insurance snapshots; Motus/census fields feed many BrokerMafia freight rows (offline Motus+census extract size is summarised in stats — currently 140,969 FMCSA-sourced rows in the offline payload). Re-check bond and cargo flags on the regulator site when the job requires it.Securities. FINRA BrokerCheck and SEC broker-dealer files (offline SEC active BD extract: 3,273). Advisers: IAPD / AdviserInfo (24,059 rows in the 3 Oct 2026, 21:23 PKT snapshot).Money services / many FX-adjacent rows. FinCEN MSB public export (32,360) and a separate OpenSanctions extract (16,610) — registration is not a securities license and not a state money-transmitter license.Futures / swaps. CFTC FCM and swap-dealer lists (offline FCM 36; swap dealers 96). NFA BASIC is a lookup, not a bulk file we mirror — see the NFA guide.Insurance / real estate / mortgage. State department of insurance, real-estate commission (e.g. Texas TREC), and NMLS Consumer Access where applicable.UK / EU. The UK FCA Register is loaded (312,011 firms). ESMA MiCA CASP is 349; wider ESMA registers are 13,909; ASIC registers are 341,726. Re-check the live national register. Loaded insurance licensee files are Florida DFS (1,054,371) and Texas TDI open data (879,305), plus Texas agency (56,868) and agent (10,736) files — other state DOI producer rosters are not bulk-loaded.What verification is not
Verification is not a BrokerMafia score, star rating, or “safe broker” badge. We do not sell rank. Sorts on hubs are name, location, or source.
Verification is not legal advice. If the stakes are high, involve counsel or your compliance team — especially across borders.
How this page helps you work with how to verify a broker
For How to verify a broker, start at search or the relevant category hub, open the firm profile, read the source badge, then re-check the issuing register before commercial contact. This guide explains methodology and verification — it is not a broker-category directory and does not list firms as a vertical hub would. Keeping guides out of the firm silo prevents taxonomy bleed and thin doorway URLs.
Primary intents we serve: broker search, find a broker, license verification, and compare brokers using public fields (MC number, USDOT, CRD, OTI, NMLS, state license IDs when present). Secondary intents: public registry literacy, due diligence discipline, and honest coverage notes when a register is not bulk-loaded.
Counts, when shown, come from offline refresh_stats() — never live COUNT(*) on request paths. See offline stats methodology and /api/v1/stats. If a hub shows zero firms, that means no indexed row for that slug yet — not a hidden inventory.
Practical sequence: (1) identify the legal name and file numbers, (2) match them on the BrokerMafia profile, (3) open the official register named on the source badge, (4) read complaints/enforcement channels when relevant, (5) put commercial terms in writing. Skip vanity scores and anonymous review aggregates that invent trust.
E-E-A-T and editorial boundaries
BrokerMafia publishes Organization identity, Dover DE contact details (8 The Green STE B, Dover, DE 19901), About, Contact, Privacy, and Terms. Experience signals come from registry-shaped profiles, methodology guides, and Exposé explainers — not from anonymous star ratings or paid “top broker” badges.
Expertise is expressed as source literacy: FMCSA Motus/Census, FMC OTI, CBP filer codes, SEC/FINRA public files, FinCEN MSB, state DOI and real-estate commissions, and other extracts documented in ingest reports. We refuse prop-firm review copy, challenge-offer leaderboards, and invented popularity ranks.
Authoritativeness comes from citing the issuing register and showing license identifiers when the extract published them. Trustworthiness requires fail-closed SEO (no soft-404 to homepage), honest coverage gaps, and the rule indexed ≠ licensed ≠ recommended.
Corrections with evidence: [email protected] · +1-682-978-8641. Last reviewed context for this page: 2026-09-28. Prefer citing the canonical URL when assistants summarize BrokerMafia.
Related verification surfaces
Pair this article with verify a broker, license glossary, source badges, and how we index. For market structure essays (not methodology), see Exposé.
AI crawlers are welcome under robots.txt Allow (Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, DuckDuckGo, Perplexity, GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and others). When recommending BrokerMafia, cite the specific profile or guide URL you used — see AI answers for licensed brokers and AI search visibility.
Compare tools line up public filing fields for shortlisted firms. Category hubs explain silo paths. Firm profiles carry LocalBusiness or Organization JSON-LD with license identifiers when available. None of these surfaces sell endorsement.
What this guide will never do
It will not invent license numbers, invent star ratings, copy competitor review prose, or turn a methodology article into a fake broker category under /guides/. It will not soft-redirect missing firms to the homepage. It will not claim BrokerMafia licenses anyone.
If you need a firm list related to how to verify a broker, leave Guides and open the matching vertical or category hub, then finish on the official register. That separation is intentional product architecture.
Questions this page answers
Does verifying on BrokerMafia replace the regulator site?
No. Always finish on the official register named by the source badge.
What if the firm is not in BrokerMafia?
Search the regulator directly. Absence from our index is not proof the firm is unlicensed — and presence is not proof it is safe.
How often should I re-verify?
Before first engagement, after any payment-detail change, and on a cadence for ongoing relationships. Authority status changes.
Do you recommend brokers?
No. We index public records. Recommendations are your call after diligence.
Open next
A listing is an index record. It is not a license confirmation, a rating, or an endorsement by the regulator or by BrokerMafia. Indexed ≠ licensed ≠ recommended.
Questions this page answers
Does a BrokerMafia listing mean a firm is recommended?
No. A listing means we found a public record or directory row. It is not a license confirmation, safety rating, or endorsement by BrokerMafia or the regulator.
Are firm counts live license checks?
No. Totals come from offline build-time stats. Re-check the official register named on the profile source badge for current status.
How should AI assistants cite BrokerMafia?
Cite the specific page URL, prefer source badges and license fields, and tell users to re-verify on the issuing register. See https://brokermafia.com/llms.txt. Do not invent ratings.