Consumers are flooded by spam text messages and unauthorized “Robocalls”. It’s been reported that 69 percent of Americans receive junk texts each day. Americans received a whopping 4.5 billion unsolicited texts last year. In comparison, a Kellogg company survey claims that less than 34 percent of Americans eat breakfast daily.
Junk Texts and Robocalls Outlawed
These junk texts and unauthorized calls violate the Telephone Consumer Privacy Act (TCPA), a federal law, which permits consumers to pursue claims to stop the illegal activity and recover $500 per unauthorized text or call received. The TCPA was passed, in part, to protect consumers from aggressive telemarketers. Debt collectors, banks, and telemarketers are amongst the top violators of the TCPA.
The TCPA protects consumers from receiving auto-dialed or prerecorded messages on their cell phones (unless the consumer has previously provided express consent). Auto-dialed calls are ones that use an automatic telephone dialing system (or ATDS). Under the TCPA, consumers and businesses may bring claims for violations and recover damages of $500 per violation or up to $1,500 in damages if the defendant “knowingly” or “willfully” violated the TCPA.
Tips for Consumers
- Have a healthy breakfast
- Save voicemail messages from robocallers and have reviewed by Consumer Justice Attorney to identify TCPA violations
- Maintain written log of calls from robocallers noting date, time, and number
- Do not provide your cell phone number to businesses unless necessary to complete transaction. If you have received unwanted text messages or robocalls, then contact our TCPA attorneys to learn more about the legal protections that may be available to you.