Reporting vs. suing a robocaller

What reporting is for

Reporting is your contribution to the public enforcement effort. You file a free complaint with the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov or the FCC at consumercomplaints.fcc.gov, and your report joins a national database regulators use to spot patterns and pursue the worst operations.

Its strengths: it’s free, it takes two minutes, and it works even when you can’t identify the caller. An anonymous spoofed scam can still be reported. Its limits: it doesn’t pay you, and it rarely stops the calls to your phone. For the steps, see how to report a robocall.

What suing is for

Suing is how you turn illegal calls into money you keep. Under the TCPA, the federal robocall law, an illegal call is worth a fixed amount, $500, or up to $1,500 if the company called willfully, and the amounts stack call by call. The recovery goes to you, not the government.

The trade-off is that suing needs a defendant: a company you can name. A warranty outfit, a lender, a debt collector dialing a wrong number: those you can pursue. An untraceable spoofed scammer, usually not. So suing pays, but only when you can identify who called. See how to sue a telemarketer for the walkthrough.

Side by side

• Goal. Reporting helps regulators enforce the law; suing recovers money for you.
• Who gets paid. Reporting pays no one; suing pays you $500 to $1,500 per call.
• Caller needed. Reporting works on anonymous callers; suing needs an identifiable company.
• Effort. Reporting is a two-minute form; suing means a free review and, if you qualify, an attorney handling it on contingency.
• Effect on the calls. Neither reliably stops your phone tomorrow (blocking does that), but suing makes the calls cost the company.

Neither one is a mistake. They answer different questions: “How do I help stop this generally?” versus “How do I get something for what was done to me?”

Which should you do?

For most people, the honest answer is both, in this order:

• Block for immediate relief with phone filtering and your carrier’s free app.
• Report the anonymous and scam calls to the FTC and FCC.
• Log the calls from companies you can name: date, time, number, and any stop request you made.
• Pursue a claim on those identifiable calls, since that’s the only path that pays you.

If the calls came from a company you can identify, reporting alone leaves money on the table. A free review under Max Morgan, Esq. can look at your calls and tell you, honestly, whether suing makes sense and what the calls are worth, on contingency, with no fee unless you recover. Every case is different and results vary.

Related: How to report a robocall · How to sue a telemarketer · Can I get money for DNC violations? · Do I qualify?