Massachusetts Do Not Call List: Chapter 159C Rights and Up to $5,000 Per Call

The Massachusetts registry

Massachusetts runs its own “no sales solicitation calls” listing through the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation (M.G.L. c. 159C, sec. 2). The statute also tells the office to fold in the Massachusetts part of any national database (sec. 7), and the state’s rule confirms the registry includes Massachusetts consumers enrolled on the federal list (201 CMR 12.03(5)).

• Sign up: free, once, for home and cell numbers, on the state’s Massachusetts Do Not Call registration site, run by the vendor Fiserv.
• How long it takes: the state says it may take up to 90 days after you sign up for unsolicited sales calls to stop. The list is updated quarterly on January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1.
• Business lines: not eligible (201 CMR 12.05(6)).
• Remove a number: call Fiserv at 866-339-1475.

Telemarketers must register with the state every year and pay a $1,100 annual fee for the list.

What Chapter 159C prohibits

Section 3 is short and strict. A telephone solicitor may not make an unsolicited telephonic sales call to a consumer:

1. If the consumer’s name and number are on the current quarterly listing.
2. To be received between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m., local time. That is an hour earlier at night than the federal rule.
3. As an electronically transmitted fax.
4. “By use of a recorded message device.”

That last item is an outright ban on unsolicited recorded sales calls. There is no written-consent exception in section 3 itself, although calls you requested are not “unsolicited.”

Other rules:

• No intentionally blocking caller ID (sec. 4).
• Within the first minute and before asking for payment, the caller must say the call is to make a sale, give the correct name of the telemarketing company and of the seller, and describe what is being sold, including its retail market value (sec. 5A).
• List brokers must scrub registered numbers from marketing lists they sell (sec. 5).

Calls that are not “unsolicited”

The ban does not reach calls you requested, calls about an existing debt or contract, calls to an existing customer (someone with an account or business relationship within the past 24 months) who has not asked to stop, or calls where the sale is completed only after a face-to-face presentation (sec. 1). Tax-exempt nonprofits and polls are outside the definition of a sales solicitation.

Suing under Chapter 159C

Section 8(b) gives a private right of action. A person “who has received more than 1 unsolicited telephonic sales call within a 12-month period by or on behalf of the same person or entity in violation of this chapter” may sue to stop the violations, recover actual monetary loss from the knowing violation, or receive “not more than $5,000 in damages for such knowing violation,” whichever is greater, or both.

Points to understand before you file:

• Knowing violations only. You must show the caller knew.
• Up to, not automatic. $5,000 is a ceiling. There is no trebling.
• Fees go both ways. The prevailing party, whether you or the company, “shall be awarded reasonable attorney’s fees and costs” after judgment and appeals (sec. 8(c)). A weak case can cost you.
• Three-year deadline. You must sue within 3 years after you knew or should have known of the violation, or 3 years after a related state case ends, whichever is later (sec. 10).
• Procedures defense. A company that had reasonable practices and procedures, applied with due care, has a defense (sec. 9).
• Small claims is an option. The state’s complaint page notes you can file directly in small claims court to try to recover damages up to $5,000.

The Attorney General can seek a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per knowing violation, and not less than $1,500 when the consumer is 65 or older (sec. 8(a)). Remedies under 159C are in addition to Chapter 93A consumer protection claims (sec. 13).

One caution from the case law. In Jones v. Experian Information Solutions (D. Mass. 2015), a federal judge refused to add a 159C claim where the numbers called were registered to businesses, not individuals, and some were put on the do not call list only after the calls.

Texts and the open question

Chapter 159C speaks of a “telephone call or message.” It does not define text messages, and we found no Massachusetts court decision or agency statement on whether marketing texts count. Two bills in the 2025 to 2026 session addressed telemarketing. H.363 was sent to a study order in February 2026, and H.4812 was in House Ways and Means when we checked. Neither has become law. For texts, the federal TCPA is the clearer route; see our spam text guide.

Stacking 159C with the TCPA

Both laws use the same trigger: more than one call in 12 months from the same entity to a registered number. The TCPA allows up to $500 per violation, or up to $1,500 if willful or knowing, and a number registered on the federal list also appears on the Massachusetts list. The TCPA also covers prerecorded calls to cell phones without consent. Our federal do not call rule guide covers the federal side.

Enforcement in Massachusetts

Attorney General Andrea Campbell joined the May 23, 2023 multistate suit against Avid Telecom. Her office said that of more than 7.5 billion calls to numbers on the national registry, approximately 104,593,113 were to Massachusetts numbers. In July 2023 she also joined the FTC and all 50 states in “Operation Stop Scam Calls.” We found no recent Massachusetts-only 159C settlement.

What to do next in Massachusetts

Register on the state site and the federal list, and wait out the state’s 90-day window. After that, log every sales call, especially recorded ones and calls after 8 p.m. When a second call from the same company arrives within 12 months, you have the statute’s trigger. File a complaint with the Attorney General and keep a copy. Because fees can shift to the winner, get a candid read on the strength of your case first; our guide to whether you need a lawyer helps. More states are on the state law hub.