The ShadowBan is a restriction applied by Meta to the WhatsApp number.
Unlike a permanent ban, the number remains connected and apparently working, but starts to have limitations for sending or receiving messages.
In Crazy API, one of the main signs of this restriction is the error:
An error occurred while sending the message to Crazy API:
server returned error 463When this error happens when starting a conversation, it's a strong indication that the number is in ShadowBan.
The number cannot start new conversations.
Example:
You try to send a message to a contact you've never chatted with on that number.
The Crazy API returns the error 463.
The message is not sent.
Depending on the intensity of the restriction, the number can still continue chatting normally with contacts that already have an active conversation.
This behavior varies according to the level of restriction applied by Meta.
In some cases, the restriction is more intense.
Even when a new contact sends the first message to the connection number, the following occurs:
The client sends the message.
The client sees ✔✔ (two ticks), indicating that Meta considered the message delivered to the number.
However, this message is not forwarded to the WhatsApp Web session used by Crazy API.
As a consequence:
❌ The message does not appear in Crazy API.
❌ No webhook is triggered.
❌ There is no message available to reply to.
In other words, for whoever sent the message, it seems like everything worked normally. However, the WhatsApp Web session never receives this message.
Crazy API, like any unofficial WhatsApp API, depends on WhatsApp Web to send and receive messages.
When Meta stops forwarding certain messages to that WhatsApp Web session, Crazy API also stops receiving them as a consequence.
The problem occurs before Crazy API, within WhatsApp's own infrastructure due to the applied restriction.
The most common signs are:
❌ Error 463 when starting new conversations.
❌ New contacts are able to send messages
✔✔ The sender sees two ticks, indicating delivery.
❌ The message never appears in Crazy API.
❌ No webhook is received.
❌ It is not possible to reply because the conversation never reaches the connection.
Client
│
▼
Target
│
▼
✔✔ Delivered to number
│
✖ Message is NOT forwarded
│ to WhatsApp Web
▼
WhatsApp Web (Crazy API)
│
✖ Does not receive the message
▼
Webhook / CRM
✖ Never receive the conversationError 463 does not represent a failure of Crazy API.
It indicates that the number is suffering a restriction applied by Meta.
In the most severe cases, Meta itself stops forwarding messages to the WhatsApp Web session. Since Crazy API depends on this session to function, there is no action that the API can take to recover messages that never reached WhatsApp Web.