North Carolina Robocall Law: Telephone Solicitation Rules and $500 to $5,000 Per Call

A state law built on the federal registry

North Carolina does not run its own list. Its statute defines the “Do Not Call” Registry as the federal registry kept by the FTC, plus any other federal registry and any registry the Attorney General might create if the federal one stopped working (N.C.G.S. 75-101(3), 75-102(n)). Register at donotcall.gov or 1-888-382-1222.

What North Carolina adds is its own set of rules and its own lawsuit. The law applies to anyone “doing business in this State,” which means making telephone solicitations to North Carolina subscribers from inside or outside the state (75-101(4)).

The rules in G.S. 75-102

• No telephone solicitation to a number on the Do Not Call Registry (75-102(a)).
• No solicitation to a subscriber who has told that solicitor not to call again (75-102(b)).
• At the start, the caller must clearly identify the telephone solicitor and the individual calling, and give a callback number or address on request (75-102(c)).
• If you ask to be removed, the solicitor must stop calling within 30 business days. If you object during the call, it must end the call promptly.
• No solicitations before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. (75-102(f)).
• The caller must ask whether you are under 18 and hang up if you are, unless it has screened out minors (75-102(g)).
• No threats, intimidation, or profanity (75-102(h)).
• No misleading caller ID and no blocking or misrepresenting where the call comes from (75-102(i)).
• Compliance with the FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule’s deceptive and abusive practice sections is required under state law too (75-102(e)).

A telemarketer may not call you to ask permission to call you. It may reach out by mail or other non-phone means to ask (75-102(k)).

Texts count

The definitions were last amended in 2019. A “telephone solicitation” is “a voice or text communication, whether prerecorded, live, or a facsimile,” made over a landline, wireless network, or commercial mobile radio service to sell goods or services, pitch a contest or sweepstakes, or ask for a charitable donation (75-101(9)). Marketing texts to a North Carolina number on the registry are inside the law.

Recorded calls are mostly banned

Under G.S. 75-104, no one may use an “automatic dialing and recorded message player” to make an unsolicited telephone call unless an exception applies. An unsolicited call is one made without your prior express invitation or permission (75-101(12)). The exceptions include:

• Charities, political candidates, government officials, and pollsters, as long as no part of the call is a sales pitch and they identify themselves.
• A live operator who first identifies the caller, states the nature and length of the recording, and gets your approval to play it.
• Calls about an existing debt or contract, appointment reminders, utility outage notices, and health plan messages to members, all without a sales pitch.
• Product recall and public safety messages.

“Express invitation or permission” has a specific meaning: it must be on an independent form that includes the phone number and your signature, which may be electronic (75-101(6)). A checkbox buried in terms of service is a weak fit for that definition.

Suing under North Carolina law

G.S. 75-105(b) lets a telephone subscriber who received a telephone solicitation in violation of the Article sue for:

You may also ask the court to stop further violations. The court may award attorney fees to a winning plaintiff if the defendant acted willfully, and to a winning defendant if the suit was frivolous and malicious (75-105(d)). The case is tried in the county where you live (75-105(f)).

There is a mistake defense. No suit may be brought if the violations were a mistake and the solicitor either had a valid exemption or had written procedures, training, and a maintained do-not-call list (75-105(c), 75-102(d)).

Using state and federal claims together

G.S. 75-105(e) says a North Carolina citizen “may also bring an action in civil court” to enforce the federal TCPA’s private rights under 47 U.S.C. 227(b)(3) and (c)(5). So you can file both claims in a North Carolina state court. The TCPA adds $500 per violation, or up to $1,500 if willful or knowing, for unconsented prerecorded calls and for registry violations after more than one call in 12 months. See the federal do not call rule and our page on prerecorded calls.

North Carolina enforcement

The North Carolina Department of Justice says that in 2021 alone, North Carolinians reported more than 10,000 robocalls to its office. Its robocall page highlights a 2020 settlement of $210 million with Dish Network over do-not-call violations, of which North Carolina received $13,986,000, which the department calls the largest penalty ever obtained in the state for do-not-call violations. The department also sued gateway provider Articul8 and its owner, alleging it routed more than 65 million calls to North Carolinians in 2020 and 2021. North Carolina was also part of the Rising Eagle and JSquared Telecom case that ended in permanent robocall bans in 2023.

What to do next in North Carolina

Report the call to the NCDOJ robocall hotline at (844)-8-NO-ROBO or through its online robocall report. Then write down each call: date, time, caller name, company, and whether a recording played. Under G.S. 75-105, the count matters: the third violation within two years is where damages jump. Our call log template helps you count accurately. The state law hub covers Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia.