Robocall Guide
TCPA violations & penalties, explained in plain English
When a company breaks the federal robocall law, that’s a “violation,” and the law puts a dollar figure on each one. You can recover $500 to $1,500 per call or text, and because the penalties stack, a string of illegal calls can be worth real money to you.
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Most people think of an illegal robocall as an annoyance. The law sees it differently. Every call or text that breaks the rules is a separate “violation,” and the law attaches a fixed amount of money to each one, money that can be paid to you, the person who was called.
What the TCPA is
The TCPA stands for the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. It’s the federal law passed in 1991 that limits how companies can call and text your phone. It exists to protect ordinary people from unwanted automated calls, prerecorded messages, and spam texts. When a company ignores those limits, it commits a violation, and the same law gives you the right to do something about it.
The main types of TCPA violation
Most claims fall into one of a handful of categories. You don’t need to know which one fits your situation. That’s our job. These are what tend to count:
- Autodialed or prerecorded calls to your cell phone without consent. If a company used software to dial you automatically, or played a recorded message, and you never agreed to those calls, that’s a violation.
- Calls or texts after you opted out. Once you tell a company to stop, by voice, by text, or in writing, every call that follows can be its own violation.
- Do-Not-Call Registry violations. If your number has been on the national Do-Not-Call list and telemarketers keep calling anyway, that’s a separate type of violation.
- Prerecorded calls without consent. A call that plays an “artificial voice” or a recording, rather than a live person, generally needs your permission, and often written permission for marketing.
- Spam texts. Text messages count too. Marketing texts sent by an automated system without your consent fall under the same law as calls.
The penalties: what each violation is worth
The TCPA is unusual here. For most laws, you’d have to prove how much money you lost. The TCPA sets the value of each illegal call in advance, so you don’t have to:
- $500 per call or text as the baseline amount for each violation.
- Up to $1,500 per call or text when the violation was “willful or knowing,” for example, when you told the company to stop and it kept dialing.
How penalties stack
This is the part that surprises people. The $500 to $1,500 figure isn’t a one-time amount for the whole problem. It applies to each call and each text. They add up.
So if a company auto-dials you three times a week for a few months, every one of those calls can count as its own violation. The math runs quickly: ten illegal calls at the baseline rate is $5,000; the same ten calls treated as willful is $15,000. A long-running campaign can reach far higher. That’s why a problem that feels like a few annoying calls can turn into a claim worth pursuing.
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See if you qualifyWho enforces the TCPA
There are two separate tracks, and the difference matters for you.
Government enforcement. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) can investigate companies and impose fines for breaking robocall rules. When you see a headline about a multi-million-dollar penalty against a robocaller, that’s usually one of these agencies acting. But those fines go to the government, not to the people who were called.
Your private right to sue. The TCPA also gives you, as an individual, the right to bring your own case. This is called a “private right of action,” and it’s the part that can put money in your pocket. You don’t have to wait for the FCC or FTC to act, and you don’t need their permission. The $500 to $1,500 per call goes to you when you win or settle.
A violation can be worth money to you
Put it together and the picture is simple. A “violation” isn’t an abstract rule on paper. It’s a call or text that broke the law, and the law says it’s worth at least $500 to the person who received it. Stack a handful of those and you have a real claim. You never have to prove you lost money; the value is already set.
This law gets enforced. These aren’t theoretical penalties. Consumers recover real money under the TCPA every year. You can see actual outcomes on our TCPA settlements and verdicts page.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different.
How Max helps, and what it costs you
Max Morgan, Esq. is a Pennsylvania-licensed attorney who handles TCPA cases for consumers nationwide. He reviews your situation for free, tells you honestly whether it’s worth pursuing, and if you have a case, takes it on contingency. His fee comes out of the recovery, not your pocket. No recovery, no fee.
You don’t need to count your calls or know which rule was broken. That’s the point of the free review: tell us what’s happening and we’ll figure out whether it adds up to a claim.
Related: What is a robocall? · How to sue a telemarketer · TCPA statute of limitations · Do-Not-Call Registry · the settlements page
TCPA violations & penalties FAQs
What is a TCPA violation?
A TCPA violation is a call or text that breaks the federal robocall law. That usually means an autodialed or prerecorded call or text sent to your cell phone without your permission, a call after you told the company to stop, or a telemarketing call to a number on the Do-Not-Call Registry. Each illegal call or text counts as its own violation.
How much is one violation worth?
Each violation is worth $500 as a baseline, rising to up to $1,500 if the violation was willful or knowing. Because the amounts stack per call and per text, several illegal calls can add up quickly, and you don’t have to prove you lost any money.
What does “willful” mean?
A violation is willful or knowing when the company meant to make the call, even if it didn’t realize the call broke the law. It doesn’t have to be malicious; it just can’t be an accident. A common example is a company that keeps calling after you clearly told it to stop. Willful violations can be worth up to $1,500 each instead of $500.
Who enforces the TCPA?
Two tracks enforce it. The FCC and the FTC can investigate companies and impose fines, but those fines go to the government. The TCPA also gives you, as an individual, the right to bring your own case and recover the $500 to $1,500 per call yourself.
Can I personally sue, or only the government?
You can sue personally. The TCPA includes a private right of action, which means you don’t have to wait for the FCC or FTC to act or get their permission. You can file your own claim, and the money recovered goes to you. Here’s how that works.
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