SSN / national ID scrubber
National identification numbers are among the most sensitive identifiers a person has, and they slip into support tickets, forms, and notes all the time. This scrubber detects national ID formats across 15+ countries and replaces them with clearly labelled tokens — locally in your browser — before you share the text with an AI tool.
How it works
Paste your text and the tool runs format patterns for US SSNs, UK NINOs, Indian
Aadhaar, Spanish NIF/DNI, Canadian SIN, French NIR, South African ID, Brazilian
CPF, Australian TFN, Italian Codice Fiscale, and a generic catch-all for several
other numeric national IDs. Each match becomes a country-labelled token such as
[US-SSN] or [AADHAAR], with a count per format. Because many formats overlap,
the country label is a best guess — the important part is that the number is
masked. Nothing leaves your browser.
What each format looks like
Understanding the pattern helps you verify the scrubber caught everything:
| Country | Format | Example pattern |
|---|---|---|
| US SSN | 9 digits with hyphens NNN-NN-NNNN | 123-45-6789 |
| UK NINO | 2 letters, 6 digits, 1 letter AA999999A | AB123456C |
| Indian Aadhaar | 12 digits | 1234 5678 9012 |
| Canadian SIN | 9 digits NNN-NNN-NNN | 123-456-789 |
| Brazilian CPF | 11 digits NNN.NNN.NNN-NN | 123.456.789-09 |
| Australian TFN | 8–9 digits | 123 456 782 |
| Spanish NIF | 8 digits + 1 letter | 12345678Z |
| Italian Codice Fiscale | 6 letters, 2 digits, 1 letter, 2 digits, 1 letter, 3 digits, 1 letter | RSSMRA80A01H501U |
Because many of these are numeric, there is inherent overlap. A 9-digit number can match both a US SSN and an Australian TFN pattern. The tool masks on the first match; the important result is that the number is masked, not the label.
When to use a scrubber vs proper anonymization
Scrubbing is not anonymization. Replacing 123-45-6789 with [US-SSN] removes the identifier, but if the surrounding text contains a name, address, or date of birth, the record may still be re-identifiable. For regulatory purposes (GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA), full de-identification requires removing or generalizing all identifying fields, not just national ID numbers.
Use this scrubber when you want to:
- Remove national IDs from a support ticket before pasting it into an AI chat tool.
- Clean a CSV or log export before sharing with a third party.
- Do a fast pass over an exported dataset before deeper anonymization.
Always review the masked output carefully — the tool deliberately over-masks to stay safe, but a non-sensitive value that happens to match a pattern will also be replaced.
Tips and notes
- Labels are best-effort. Overlapping numeric formats mean a token’s country may be approximate; the masking itself is what protects the data.
- Over-masking is intentional. The tool errs toward catching too much rather than too little — review the output so you don’t lose a value you needed.
- Local only. Everything runs in your browser, so the original IDs never leave your machine.
- Mask the context too. Removing the number isn’t full anonymization if the surrounding text still points to one person.