How many times do you get calls from numbers you don’t know? Probably more than you’d like. There is a way to make money off those unwanted telemarketing calls. Amy Davis explains how to turn the calls into paychecks for you.
Yes, you can make money from robocalls
Robocalls are the top complaint to the Federal Trade Commission. Two federal laws give consumers the right to turn those calls into cash. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule make it illegal for a business to call your cell phone using an autodialer without your permission.
Every time they do they owe you no less than $500. Doc Compton, the founder of Robocalls for Cash, joined Amy Davis for an episode of Ask Amy to explain the types of calls.
“Anybody that wants to buy or sell your house or list your house for sale. Anybody that wants to refinance into home services, wants to put a roof on your house that would put solar panels on your house. These are all the cash calls. The ones that are actionable under federal law.”
What about the calls from people who sound like they are overseas?
Yes, those calls may be eligible for getting paid. Here’s why:
“The call center may be in India or Pakistan or the Philippines or South America. In reality, the company that hired them is right here in the United States, not here in Texas, Florida, and California. Three of the biggest robocall states. Believe it or not. And that’s who you go after, not the boring call center,” said Compton.
So how do you get paid for a robocall?
1. Answer the call, get information
You need to talk to the person and seem interested so you can get information out of them. You’ll need the name of the company, website, and physical address.
2. Research the company
You need to know the name of the company’s CEO or its registered agent or both.
3. Send a demand letter
Let them know they violated the TCPA. Compton’s kit includes template letters. You can do this on your own but Compton sells a kit for $47 that has form letters and step-by-step instructions.
This won’t work for all unwanted calls.
“Cash, tax-exempt nonprofits are exempt from the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Also, the political calls, if they are asking for money and they are not a tax-exempt nonprofit, that’s a different story.”
Compton explains this method works for some text messages too.
“We have people that have made hundreds of thousands of dollars busting texters in that threshold. Now it’s just like with the calls. There are those that are scams and those that are actionable,” said Compton.
You don’t have to buy the kit, but it will make it easier for people who don’t know how to do much research to find the corporate offices of a company and get the name of the CEO and registered agent of the company. If you don’t know how to write a demand letter and you don’t want to try, you can get a template demand letter in the kit that lets you fill in the blanks with the name of the company calling you, etc.
Compton recommends making sure you are on the Do Not Call List.
Here are a few answers to common questions about turning robocalls into cash.
Watch the full Ask Amy Episode with Compton here.