diff --git a/cmd/ingestor/main.go b/cmd/ingestor/main.go
index 6176e327..96184b6b 100644
--- a/cmd/ingestor/main.go
+++ b/cmd/ingestor/main.go
@@ -1454,10 +1454,24 @@ func loadRegionKeys(cfg *Config) map[string][]byte {
 
 // matchScope performs one HMAC-SHA256 per configured region. Expected
 // len(regionKeys) ≤ 50; beyond that, consider a pre-indexed lookup table.
+//
+// code1 is only 16 bits (65534 usable values after the 0x0000/0xFFFF
+// remap), so with enough configured regions a *different*, unrelated
+// region's HMAC can coincidentally also produce the packet's real code1
+// (birthday-paradox collision — expected rate ≈ len(regionKeys)/65534
+// per packet). Silently returning the first map-iteration match would
+// make the guess a coin flip between the true region and the collider,
+// and Go's randomized map order means the same ambiguous packet could
+// even resolve differently across ingestor restarts. Instead we scan
+// every region and only return a name when exactly one matches; two or
+// more matches means the code1 doesn't uniquely identify a region for
+// this payload, so we report unknown-scoped ("") rather than guess.
 func matchScope(regionKeys map[string][]byte, payloadType byte, payloadRaw []byte, code1 string) string {
 	if code1 == "0000" || len(regionKeys) == 0 || len(payloadRaw) == 0 {
 		return ""
 	}
+	var match string
+	matchCount := 0
 	for name, key := range regionKeys {
 		mac := hmac.New(sha256.New, key)
 		mac.Write([]byte{payloadType})
@@ -1471,10 +1485,15 @@ func matchScope(regionKeys map[string][]byte, payloadType byte, payloadRaw []byt
 		}
 		codeBytes := [2]byte{byte(code & 0xFF), byte(code >> 8)}
 		if strings.ToUpper(hex.EncodeToString(codeBytes[:])) == code1 {
-			return name
+			match = name
+			matchCount++
 		}
 	}
-	return ""
+	if matchCount > 1 {
+		log.Printf("[regions] ambiguous scope match for code1=%s: %d regions collide (including %q) — reporting unknown-scoped instead of guessing", code1, matchCount, match)
+		return ""
+	}
+	return match
 }
 
 // Version info (set via ldflags)
diff --git a/cmd/ingestor/main_test.go b/cmd/ingestor/main_test.go
index ffb6138f..f0e60215 100644
--- a/cmd/ingestor/main_test.go
+++ b/cmd/ingestor/main_test.go
@@ -880,6 +880,43 @@ func TestMatchScope(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestMatchScope_AmbiguousCollisionReturnsUnknown is a real-world regression
+// vector captured on stg.meshview.dk (1098 configured hashRegions): a single
+// GRP_TXT packet (payloadType=5, code1=C417) whose HMAC coincidentally
+// matched BOTH "#dk" (the sender's true region) and "#dk1906" (an unrelated
+// region that happened to collide in the 16-bit code1 space). Before this
+// fix, matchScope returned whichever name Go's randomized map iteration
+// visited first — the same ambiguous packet could resolve to either name
+// across restarts. It must now report unknown-scoped ("") instead of
+// guessing when more than one region matches.
+func TestMatchScope_AmbiguousCollisionReturnsUnknown(t *testing.T) {
+	dkKey, _ := hex.DecodeString("4a447e7539b0418bd14cf28aa8241529")
+	dk1906Key, _ := hex.DecodeString("dd24ec5e2aa5221030147ebec77ebd7c")
+	regionKeys := map[string][]byte{"#dk": dkKey, "#dk1906": dk1906Key}
+
+	payloadRaw, err := hex.DecodeString("D9A740B10D5BA91A9E5D5156DB534888AD454D")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("decode payloadRaw: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	// Sanity: each key matches C417 individually (proves the vector is a
+	// real collision, not a bug in the test itself).
+	if got := matchScope(map[string][]byte{"#dk": dkKey}, 5, payloadRaw, "C417"); got != "#dk" {
+		t.Fatalf("precondition: #dk alone should match C417, got %q", got)
+	}
+	if got := matchScope(map[string][]byte{"#dk1906": dk1906Key}, 5, payloadRaw, "C417"); got != "#dk1906" {
+		t.Fatalf("precondition: #dk1906 alone should match C417, got %q", got)
+	}
+
+	// With both configured, the collision must resolve to unknown ("")
+	// rather than nondeterministically picking one.
+	for i := 0; i < 20; i++ {
+		if got := matchScope(regionKeys, 5, payloadRaw, "C417"); got != "" {
+			t.Errorf("ambiguous match: matchScope = %q, want empty (unknown-scoped)", got)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func TestBuildPacketDataScopeMatching(t *testing.T) {
 	// Fixed known-answer packet: TRANSPORT_FLOOD, payloadType=5, payload="hello",
 	// Code1=2AB5 (pre-computed for region "#test").