Telephone Privacy / Robocall Laws

Telephone and Text Harassment

Nearly three billion unwanted robocalls are made in the United States each month. Laws including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) protect you from these nuisances (including marketing calls and unsolicited faxes) where you did not provide consent for the caller to contact you. Under this law, autodialed calls (robocalls or robotexts) or calls made using an artificial or pre-recorded voice to your cell phone without your consent is illegal. In many states, this also applies to text messages. Under the TCPA, successful consumers are entitled to collect a cash award of $500 or more each unlawful call, fax, or text message.

Although robo-calls (and texts) can come from any source and for any reason, our experience is that such contacts can generally be expected to arise for the following reasons: (1) collection of a late account; (2) marketing calls due to a prior business relationship with the entity; (3) calls for a prior subscriber of the telephone number; (4) in connection with servicing a loan; and, (5) scammers looking for easy marks. A knowledgeable consumer attorney can advise you as to your rights under these laws if you are contacted by a debt collector or other business that did not have your express permission to contact you.

Anytime Your Telephone Privacy Is Violated:

Robo-dialed calls, computerized voicemails, computer generated text messages or robo-dialed faxes without your prior express consent may implicate your rights under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). This includes when the calls are not for you, are for marketing purposes, or continue after you tell them to stop. Anytime you receive any such communications send us the following (don’t worry about what you don’t have, just send what you do):

• Call logs showing the date, time, and number displayed on your caller ID for all calls (and texts) received, noting whether the calls were to your home, work, or cell phone (depending on your provider, you may be able to download previous phone bills and you can also take pictures/screen shots of your caller ID);
• Any letters you sent asking for calls or texts to stop;
• Any certified mail receipts that you have to show when your letter was received;
• Any texts you sent asking for texts to stop;
• Any documents confirming your request for calls or texts to stop;
• Any other documents you feel are relevant to, or support your case; and,
• ANY AND ALL VOICE MAILS YOU RECEIVE (we can record them over the phone and they may greatly help your case).