TCPA
How the government fights scam calls
Privacy is a vital part of life. In a world where it feels like everything is online, taking moments to ourselves has become increasingly important. While it’s great to be connected to others, you can’t let those connections trample your personal rights.
That’s why your phone rights need to be protected. When you’ve got scam callers, robocalls, and caller ID “spoofing” trying to get your bank account information, that’s a serious problem. You don’t deserve to be interrupted like that, and the frauds making those calls have no claim on your information.
Governments and phone companies everywhere are cracking down on spam callers. Fewer spam calls in the world means more productivity, fewer fake numbers, and fewer scams. It’s illegal and unethical, and if we work together to protect ourselves, perhaps someday it can be extinct.
This line of thinking was the birthplace of the TCPA, or Telephone Consumer Protection Act. While this act is relatively recent, its mindset is as old as telephone communication itself. People have a right to privacy on any communication channel, including their personal phones. Whether specified in law or not, this right to privacy is the impetus for protecting cell phone users from scam callers.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act aims to shield honest citizens from those who would take advantage of them. It’s not a replacement for basic cell phone safety, like hanging up if you don’t know the number. All the same, the act will allow consumers to more easily deal with the scam call infestations that beset them. With time and effort, perhaps scam calls and robocalls can be less effective.
What is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act?
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (or TCPA for short) is an act designed to protect phone users from malicious scam calls. It allows you to take back your freedom from constant, frustrating scam calls, but it also restricts how much a telemarketer or debt collector can contact you. TCPA litigation covers telemarketing and automated calls made without your consent. TCPA compliance is necessary for any scam or telemarketing calls that don’t follow it’s outlined codes and regulations. But a TCPA violation isn’t limited just to telephone calls; in fact, it covers other major areas of communication, including debt collection calls, text messaging, and faxes, as well as both cell phones and residential phones.
TCPA cases are broad enough to cover the basics of scamming and unethical telephone calls/text messaging. A TCPA lawsuit can also occur under prerecorded calls and automated dialing (since there’s a human behind the machine running the scam).
In fact, the act completely bans any prerecorded calls and text messages to cell phones. Regardless of how the consumer uses their cell phone (i.e., for business or personal use), automated calls violate the act. The only automated calls allowed are those made with the “prior express consent of the called party.” This provision means that legitimate businesses you know may still call you, but no self-respecting business would make demands or ask you for personal information over the phone.
Up until recently, there was another exemption: federal debt collection. Until July 6, 2020, if you owed the government money, the responsible agency could send an automated voice message to your phone requesting you to pay (for things such as student loans and mortgage). Perhaps due to the high amount of scam calls that claim to be from the government, the provision was struck down in a recent case (Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants). Despite the legitimate nature of these robocalls, the TCPA no longer allows them to exist.
What is regulated under the TCPA?
Any and all communication along phone lines (including text messaging and fax numbers) is under the TCPA’s jurisdiction. TCPA cases often involve robocalls or scam calls due to their prominence in phone communication. This includes autodialer calls, telemarketing calls, and even government debt collection.
But the TCPA has legal sanctions tying it to other communications-related activities. TCPA prevents solicitors from calling people on the national Do Not Call list. Adding your phone to this list is quick and easy. After that, businesses are prevented by law from cold contacting you.
(NOTE: There is an exemption for legal businesses with whom you’ve had dealings in the last eighteen months. This stipulation helps businesses you’ve worked with give you follow up calls about your orders, upcoming medical appointments, etc. But no legal call, made by a machine or a human, will ever ask for your personal information over the phone. Businesses you’ve worked with will already have your information, and they won’t need to ask for it again. Additionally, you can ask these businesses to put you on their own Do Not Call list, and they’ll be legally required to comply.)
To whom does the TCPA apply?
The act was designed to target unwanted phone calls. Regardless of their origin, their legitimacy, or the nature of the calls, businesses should not be allowed to pester customers into receiving calls they don’t want. Even if the business is not run by scammers, there are more ethical ways to get peoples’ attention. While there are secondary stipulations to the act, the TCPA was made to combat annoying calls.
That being said, there are more specific provisions the TCPA covers. TCPA litigation is broad concerning automated calls, or robocalls. You’ve probably heard calls like these before. When you answer, there’s usually a short pause, then a prerecorded voice telling you not to hang up, then demanding you give them your personal information. These calls have been around for years, and they play a part in some of the worst scams. People who fall for robocalls’ demands find that their bank accounts are exposed, losing them lots of hard-earned money.
Because of the frustrating nature of automated scam calls and how simple it is to pass laws against them, the TCPA was passed in 1991 to prevent automated calls entirely. There were (and are) so many automated scam calls that it’s impossible to tell whether one’s legitimate or not. Under the circumstances, banning the whole batch of them was a reasonable choice. The TCPA also includes measures against debt collectors and telemarketers. Even though both of these businesses may have legal roots, they are historically known for being very annoying. That’s not the most official term for it, but nuisance calls are a very real thing. It’s impossible to get any peace of mind when you’re liable at all times to be called by a business you don’t want. Telemarketers often will try to cold-contact strangers in an effort to sell their products to uninterested customers. Due to how easy it is to fail a cold-contact, they often resort to pushy, unethical tactics, such as trying to get you to make a purchase right at that moment. There are also many horror stories of debt collectors’ calls ruining peoples’ privacy and peace. Indeed, the sheer number of difficult phone calls in the world is staggering.
That’s why the Telephone Consumer Protection Act was put in place. In large part, companies will use a safer form of getting your information. No one from Walmart is going to call and ask for your credit card information—if you shop there, wouldn’t they already have that number?
Does TCPA apply to text messages?
Yes, very much so. Although it was originally made for phone calls on landline numbers, its jurisdiction has extended to text messages.
Enough scams claim to be from legitimate businesses, and they’ve invaded both phone calls and text messaging. The difference with messages is that they may ask you to click on a link. Whatever you do, don’t click on it.
Unwanted automated texts are illegal under the TCPA because government authorities understand the organic nature of scams. Sadly, whenever a new communication method comes out, scammers find a way to exploit people unfamiliar with the platform. Those who are new users lack the experience to distinguish between real content and fakers.
But regardless of the message, you don’t need to feel obligated by whatever it’s asking. Like the calls themselves, robotexts may be pushy and authoritative, but there’s no real authority to them. It’s just some criminal cowering behind a screen. What are they going to do if you delete that text? Nothing. They can’t do anything because all the power is in your hands.
The best defense against unwanted messages is to delete them or hang up. That’s the easiest way to ensure that no one in your household accidentally gives away sensitive information. To learn more about unwanted automated calls, along with tips and tricks to protect yourself, check out our recent article about robocalls.
What constitutes a violation of the TCPA?
To keep up citizens’ right to privacy, and to ensure they won’t be disturbed by pushy, unwanted phone calls, the TCPA is quite strict on its violations. By hiking the fines and punishment related to illegal robocalls, the TCPA endeavors to successfully reduce the country’s number of scam calls.
For example, if you’ve been receiving tons of automated scam calls, you may be entitled to some compensation. The TCPA is extremely strict, and litigation can award you up to $500 for each Do Not Call list violation (or other TCPA violation). This measure can be extended to up to $1500 per phone call that clearly demonstrates that the caller knowingly and willfully violated the TCPA. Granted, just because you’ve received a scam call or two doesn’t mean the TCPA will hear your case. They’ll believe you, sure, but they’re too busy to award $500 to every single person who’s ever suffered an annoying spam call. Their work prioritizes people who are being constantly targeted by scammers.
In addition, there are also restrictions on when, where, and how callers can contact you. It is illegal for auto dialer telemarketers and debt collectors to make calls before 8 AM or after 9 PM. This keeps in line with the general rule of phone laws: keep people safe and happy. No one likes a phone call in the late evening, especially one from a business they don’t trust or respect. And if it’s a debt call, that can wait until regular working hours.
What is the DNC List, and how does it relate to the TCPA?
The national Do Not Call list is just what it sounds like: a legal measure to prevent you from being called by telemarketers. Telemarketers are legally forbidden to call your number if you’re on the national Do Not Call registry. There’s simply been too much time wasted on unwanted calls, and government officials understand that. The DNC list is the registry, but the TCPA gives officials the authority to litigate its protective sanctions. Without the TCPA, it would be harder to prosecute those who violate the strict measures put in place by the DNC list.
Other legal measures are falling into place in addition to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Do Not Call list. Recently the Federal Communications Commission approved a huge body of legislation designed to stop scam callers from using improper numbers to contact people. Because so many scammers use false caller ID information, caller ID “spoofing” has become a staple of scam calls. “Spoofing” allows scammers to disguise their number as a local area code, making it seem like it’s coming from someone you might know.
This fake code becomes important when scammers claim they’re from local businesses, like credit unions or a debt collection agency. They may even pretend they’re a local government agency, claiming they need to ask questions for emergency purposes (like an upcoming federal court ruling or an alleged violation you never did). Such scammers will attempt to ask for information under their pretended “authority.” But if they really were the organization they claim to be, they wouldn’t need your information. The government already has access to your social security number, and bank accounts and credit unions don’t need to confirm your account number and password.
Telephone solicitation is clever, but there are ways to combat it. That’s why the Federal Communications Commission has worked so hard to bring justice to these fraudsters. They’ve set up lots of systems that allow you to petition a complaint, reporting a violation of your phone rights by an illegal telemarketer. The FCC’s recent STIR/SHAKEN act seeks to correct this misbehavior by forcing another layer of identification on scammers’ phone calls. The hope is that with STIR/SHAKEN in place, robocalls will be cut off at the source before they even reach your phone.
Learn more information about STIR/SHAKEN.
Conclusion: Other ways to defend yourself from scammers
Even with the TCPA in place, and after adding your number to the DNC List, it’s possible that scam calls can still get through. There are so many robocalls that phone companies and the government can’t monitor all of them. On top of that, scam callers are software experts; they don’t have to lug around a ton of equipment. All they have to do to relocate is pick up their laptop and drive somewhere else. Catching them becomes even more complicated if the scam caller farm is international, since they are farther away and take more coordination to find.
The nature of scam calls usually involves asking for sensitive personal information, such as your bank account numbers, debit or credit card numbers, social security number (SSN), or even your address. Scammers aren’t interested in going to your house and breaking in, but they can steal from you in other ways. Any finances or information accessible online can be theirs to take if they have the right information.
Make sure not to trust calls with automatic messages, regardless of how they try to disguise their intentions. Some may claim to be your local bank account or even your car dealership. The messages will use pushy and manipulative tactics to coerce people into making a mistake. These people are probably far away and definitely don’t plan on visiting you anytime soon. They have no power over you, and they can’t do anything to stop you from hanging up the phone. Don’t press any buttons on the phone, as doing so might allow them to charge you an international call fee at your expense. And above all, never give away any personal information. Consider not answering if you don’t recognize the number. Delete suspicious messages in your voicemail and text message; do not click any links. You have complete control over the situation at all times, and you’re not subject to the demands of strangers. File a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and take steps to block those numbers if it keeps happening.
