TCPA Robocall FAQ

A TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) violation occurs when a company calls your cell phone using an autodialer or prerecorded message without your prior express written consent. It also covers calls to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry and calls made before 8 AM or after 9 PM local time. Each individual call can be a separate violation worth $500–$1,500 in federal statutory damages.

Under the TCPA, each illegal robocall is worth $500 in statutory damages. If the court finds the violation was willful or knowing, damages increase to $1,500 per call. You do not need to prove actual harm — the statute entitles you to these damages automatically. Receiving 10 illegal calls from the same company could be worth $5,000–$15,000.

Yes. If you received a robocall intended for someone else — the previous owner of your phone number — you still have full TCPA rights. You never gave consent to be called, which means every autodialed or prerecorded call to your number is potentially illegal. Courts have consistently upheld TCPA claims for wrong-number calls.

Your phone records, voicemail recordings, and call logs are the foundation of your case. Document each call: the date, time, caller ID, and any prerecorded message you heard. CallBounty helps you log and preserve this evidence automatically. The more detail you capture at the time of the call, the stronger your case.

A robocall is illegal if it uses an automatic telephone dialing system (autodialer) or delivers a prerecorded message to your cell phone without your prior express written consent. Calls made to market goods or services, collect debts, or solicit donations are all covered. Calls from healthcare providers and certain government agencies have limited exemptions, but commercial robocalls almost never qualify.

No. You can file a TCPA lawsuit in federal court pro se (representing yourself), but most people work with a TCPA attorney who takes cases on contingency — meaning no upfront cost to you. The attorney collects a fee from the damages recovered. CallBounty connects you with legal resources to evaluate your case at no charge.

The statute of limitations for TCPA claims is 4 years from the date of the violation. Do not wait — evidence gets harder to gather over time, and companies sometimes go out of business or restructure. If you received an illegal robocall recently, document it now and report it while the details are fresh.

Scam robocallers are harder to sue directly because they hide behind spoofed numbers and shell companies. However, if the calls are made on behalf of a legitimate business — a real company using shady lead generators to reach you — that company can be held liable under TCPA's vicarious liability rules. Your report helps identify these chains of responsibility.

Technically one illegal call is enough to bring a TCPA claim. In practice, a pattern of calls from the same company makes for a stronger case and higher potential damages. If you've received multiple calls from the same number or company, document all of them — each is a separate violation and counts toward your total recovery.

Yes. Reporting your robocall on CallBounty is completely free. You log the details of the call, and we help build your documentation for potential legal action. There is no fee to submit a report, and any legal representation connected through the platform works on contingency.