Filing a Spam Text Complaint

Filing a Spam Text Complaint

If you’ve been the victim of unwanted text messages, you’re not alone. But that doesn’t mean that you have put up with the annoyance. There are a number of ways that you can fight back.

Reporting Do Not Call Violations

If it has been at least 31 days since you have registered your cell phone number with the National Do Not Call Registry (www.donotcall.gov) and you receive an unwanted text message from an advertiser, you have every right to report a do not call violation. The first step is filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. You can do that by calling 1-888-225-5322 or completing the FCC’s online complaint form at www.fcc.gov/complaints. You can also mail do not call complaints to:

Federal Communications Commission
Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau
Consumer Inquiries and Complaints Division
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20554

Reporting Telephone Consumer Protection Act Violations

In addition to honoring the National Do Not Call Directory, commercial texters must abide by other rules set forth by the Federal Communications Commission in conjunction with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). TCPA violations can also be reported to the FCC using the information above.

In addition, you may wish to report do not call violations to your state attorney general’s office. You can find a list of attorneys general at www.naag.org. And, if you know the name of the telemarketing company, you can report it to the Better Business Bureau.

Report Unwanted Text Messages to Your Carrier

Most major cell phone service providers (Verizon, AT&T;, T-Mobile, and Sprint) will allow you to forward spam text messages by texting the unwanted text message to 7726 (“SPAM”). This helps the providers identify and block the source of spam texts. While it’s possibly to ask your carrier to block certain phone numbers from sending texts, this approach is often not practical. This is because those who engage in spam texting typically use huge banks of phone numbers; as soon as a carrier shuts down one number, the spammers move onto the next.

Your Right to Sue

In addition to reporting do not call violations and TCPA violations to governmental authorities and the Better Business Bureau, you have the right to sue commercial texters who violate the law. If your experience is similar to any of the circumstances on our Text Messaging Spam Checklist, you may be able to take the texter to court and recover up to $500 per text, or triple that if it can be proven that the advertiser violated the law willfully and knowingly.

If your rights have been violated, complete the form to the right or call our office at 475-277-2200 for a free, no obligation case evaluation.