Phone Harassment Laws: Which Law Fits the Calls You Are Getting

Start with who is calling

“Harassment” means different things in law. The right path depends almost entirely on the caller. This table sorts the common situations.

Criminal telephone harassment

Federal law makes certain calls a crime. Under 47 U.S.C. 223(a)(1), it is illegal in interstate or foreign communications to:

• make a call “without disclosing his identity and with intent to abuse, threaten, or harass any specific person”;
• cause “the telephone of another repeatedly or continuously to ring, with intent to harass any person at the called number”; or
• make repeated calls during which conversation ensues, “solely to harass any specific person.”

The penalty is a fine, up to two years in prison, or both. Every state also has its own harassment, menacing or stalking laws that cover calls and texts. These are criminal laws. You report them to the police, not to a lawyer for damages. If you feel unsafe, call 911 and ask your local court about a protective order.

Be straight with yourself about one point: personal harassment by someone you know is usually not a TCPA case. The TCPA is about robocalls, autodialers and telemarketing. An ex calling you 40 times from a regular phone is a police and protective-order matter. Some states allow a civil suit for intentional infliction of emotional distress or invasion of privacy, but those are different cases from the ones on this site.

Harassment by debt collectors

The FDCPA bans collector conduct meant to “harass, oppress, or abuse.” Section 1692d lists examples, including:

• causing a phone to ring or engaging you in conversation “repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass”;
• using obscene, profane or abusive language;
• threatening violence or harm to your reputation or property;
• calling without “meaningful disclosure of the caller’s identity.”

Regulation F adds a clear number: more than seven calls about one debt in seven days is presumed to be harassment. The details are on our FDCPA call limits page. Remember the one-year deadline for FDCPA claims.

Harassment by robocalls and telemarketers

A flood of robocalls feels like harassment even when no one intends to torment you. The TCPA does not require intent to harass. It asks narrower questions: Was a prerecorded or artificial voice used? Was the number on the Do Not Call Registry? Did you ever consent, and did you revoke it? If the answers line up, each call can carry statutory damages, and the caller’s motive does not matter.

This is where the money usually is. A company that robocalls a cell phone 30 times without consent faces up to $15,000 in statutory damages at $500 per call, and more if a court finds the conduct willful. See how the TCPA works for the full rule set.

Spoofed and anonymous calls

Many harassing calls show fake numbers. Faking caller ID to cheat or hurt someone is itself illegal under the Truth in Caller ID Act, 47 U.S.C. 227(e), and the FCC enforces that law with large fines. For example, it fined Adrian Abramovich $120 million in 2018 over almost 100 million spoofed travel robocalls. For an individual, spoofing mainly makes the caller harder to identify. The underlying robocall or harassment claim is still what you would sue on.

What does not count

• A single rude call from a collector or a business.
• Calls you invited, such as returning a callback request you made, unless you later revoked consent.
• Political or charity calls placed by a live person, which fall outside most Do Not Call rules.

How to document harassing calls

1. Keep a log with date, time, number, caller name and what was said. Our call log for building evidence has the fields a lawyer needs.
2. Save voicemails and texts. Export them; do not rely on the phone alone.
3. Write down threats word for word as soon as the call ends.
4. Tell the caller once, clearly, to stop. For a collector, put it in writing. For a company, say it on the call and in writing.
5. Report it. Threats go to the police. Robocalls go to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to the FCC. Collector abuse goes to the CFPB.

What to do next about harassing calls

If you are afraid for your safety, contact the police first. If the calls come from a collection agency or a company, save a week of call history and any voicemails. Then ask for a free review so a lawyer can sort out whether the FDCPA, the TCPA or both apply. If the caller hides behind changing numbers, our steps for building a case against an unknown caller show how to keep records until the company is identified.