Robocalls on the Rise

Robocalls are on the rise across the nation:

These unwanted calls have become a widespread problem over the years, and they’re only getting worse. Last month, 4.1 billion robocalls were placed nationwide, according to an estimate from call-blocking service YouMail. That’s up from 2.7 billion in February.

And Texas leads as the most robocalled state:

“According to the YouMail Robocall Index, which tracks the volume and extent of robocalls in the United States, more than 3,403,384,000 robocalls were made to Texas area codes in 2017, making Texas the most robocalled state in the nation,” says the National Consumer Law Center.

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In the FTC’s recent “Biennial Report to Congress,” the agency reported 4.5 million complaints in 2017, up from 3.4 million in 2016. About 559,000 Texans complained about illegal robocalls in 2017.

Consumers are protected from robocalls by the Do Not Call List, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and entities like the Federal Trade Commission.  The TCPA allows consumers to go after companies that use robo dialers when they violate the law and this has caused some companies to try and gut the law:

Managing illegal robocalls has been the FCC’s responsibility since the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was signed in 1991, but a recent court decision means the FCC must reconsider how it defines—and handles—the most annoying phone calls.

In March, the U.S. federal appeals court in D.C. found that the Commission’s definition of autodialer could potentially apply to smartphones, and had to be reworked.

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“The term automatic dialing system is defined in the TCPA. The question is the interpretation of that language,” says Carolyn Carter, the deputy director of the National Consumer Law Center. “The calling industry would like it to be interpreted very narrowly so it doesn’t apply to anything.”

If you are getting illegal robocalls from a source you can identify, you may have a claim under the TCPA.  The penalty is based on the number the calls, so retaining a record of the calls or voice mails is important.