How to Report Robocalls and Spam Texts to the FCC, FTC and Your State

Where to report, at a glance

RobocallLawsuit.com is a law firm website. We are not affiliated with the FCC, the FTC, or the National Do Not Call Registry, and nothing you submit to us is sent to them.

Report to the FTC (Do Not Call and robocalls)

The FTC runs the National Do Not Call Registry. Its reporting page accepts two kinds of reports:

• Do Not Call: after your number has been on the Registry for 31 days, you can report unwanted sales calls.
• Robocalls: calls that use a recorded message instead of a live person, whether or not your number is registered.

The form asks about the call and has you pick a category for what it was about, such as debt reduction, home security, or vacations. Have your log in front of you. If you have not registered yet, do it at donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222 from the phone you want to add. The FTC says registration never expires.

Some callers may legally call a registered number: charities, political groups, surveys, and companies you recently did business with or gave written permission to call. Debt collectors are not covered by the Registry either. If a debt collector is the problem, the FTC’s reporting page links to a separate debt collection complaint.

Report to the FCC

The FCC enforces the TCPA’s rules on robocalls, robotexts, and caller ID spoofing. File through its Consumer Complaint Center, choose the unwanted calls category, and note whether your number is being spoofed, blocked, or mislabeled. That last point helps if a legitimate number of yours is being flagged as spam.

Forward spam texts to 7726

For spam texts, the FCC says most mobile carriers let you report the message by forwarding it to 7726, which spells SPAM on a keypad. Check with your provider. Take a screenshot before you forward or delete, because the text itself may matter later. Do not reply to the text or click its links, other than replying STOP to a sender you recognize.

Report to your state

Many states have their own telemarketing laws and do-not-call rules, and state attorneys general can sue violators. Under the TCPA, a state attorney general can bring a federal case on behalf of residents. Use the NAAG directory to find your attorney general’s consumer complaint page. Our state telemarketing law guide covers what each state adds.

What to put in a report

A useful report is specific. Include the date and time of the call, the number on your caller ID, whether it was a recording or a live person, any company or product named, and what you were asked to do or buy. If the caller told you to press a key, gave a callback number, or named a website, include that too. Keep your statements factual. Write down what happened, not guesses about who is behind it. File one report per call if the form allows it, since a pattern of reports tied to the same number is more useful to investigators than a single summary.

What reporting does

• It feeds enforcement. The FTC says reports are analyzed to identify patterns and take action against the people responsible for illegal calls.
• It can support policy and investigations. The FCC says it uses complaints to guide policy and possible enforcement, and may share them with other agencies.
• It gives you a dated record, which can back up your own log.

What reporting does not do

• It does not resolve your complaint. The FCC states that it does not resolve individual complaints. The FTC says it cannot respond to reports individually.
• It does not pay you. A complaint is not a claim for money. Any penalty an agency pursues is its own case, not yours.
• It does not start a lawsuit. A private TCPA claim is separate. Only you, with or without a lawyer, can bring it, and it has to be filed within four years of each call.
• It usually will not stop the calls quickly. Enforcement takes time, and many robocallers switch numbers.

If you want compensation, reporting is optional and the lawsuit is the part that matters. Our guide on how to sue a telemarketer explains that route.

Report and document at the same time

The details a report asks for are the same details a lawsuit needs, so keep your own copy of everything you submit. The call log and case-building guide gives you a place to record each call, and our evidence checklist explains what else to save. If your caller ID shows a label like “Scam Likely,” that label comes from your carrier; our page on spam caller ID labels explains what it does and does not mean.

Blocking calls while you document

The FCC encourages people to ask their phone company about call-blocking tools and to consider blocking apps. Blocking is reasonable, but screenshot a number’s call history before you block it, since blocked calls may stop appearing in your log. For the rules that make these calls illegal in the first place, see the Do Not Call list law.

After you report

If you know the company behind the calls and have more than one or two of them, a report is a good first step, not the last one. Send us the same details for a free review of whether you have a private claim worth bringing.