PHOENIX — In 2022, robocallers called Phoenicians more than 935 million times, according to the voicemail app YouMail.
That's nearly 78 million calls a month, 2.5 million calls a day.
Those calls used to annoy Lisa Wolfe. But now, they are a money-making opportunity for her.
"Oh, I'd get angry. I don't get angry anymore. I'm happy to take those calls," Wolfe said.
"So far, I'm up $15,000 in recoveries since August of last year," Wolfe said. "I've got about $30,000 to $40,000 pending in the courts now."
She got the idea after hearing the story of a Texas accountant who made $100,000 from illegal calls.
She looked into how she could make money and found Doc Compton.
"It’s an opportunity born of a public nuisance," Doc Compton said.
Compton runs Robocalls.cash and sells a kit to help people use the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to make telemarketers pay up.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act or TCPA of 1991 allows penalties each time a company violates the "National Do Not Call" registry, uses automatic dialing systems, or pre-recorded messages in an illegal manner.
"The law makes it illegal for anyone to call you with an automated telephone dialing system, a prerecorded message, one of those AI systems, or ringless voicemails without your expressed, prior written consent," Compton said. "There is also a provision in the law that says if your number is registered on the national "do not call registry" and they call you more than once in any 12-month period, that too is an actionable violation."
The TCPA entitles victims to $500 for each violation
The penalties get tripled if a court finds a company knowingly or willfully violated the law.
"So these calls can be worth anywhere from $500 to $3,000 a piece under federal law,“ Compton said.
Those financial penalties are per call. If a telemarketer or robocaller keeps dialing, so do the potential penalties people are entitled to.
"It can add up really quickly," Wolfe said.
Wolfe bought Compton's $47 kit last year, which includes step-by-step instructions on using the TCPA and template demand letters.
"Got it, read it, ran with it," Wolfe said.
SO HOW DOES IT WORK?
Wolfe walked us through her process and provided 12News with recorded phone calls.
The first step, you will need to start answering those spam calls.
"The moment I know the number is spoofed, then I know we are getting on the ride," Wolfe said.
Her next step is to gather information. Her goal, get information about the company behind the illegal call.
So to learn more, she pretends to be interested in the product for sale.
"You have to engage," Wolfe said. "Don't sound like you are interrogating them.
In phone calls provided to 12News, Wolfe gets telemarketers from a tax company and a home flipper to provide a website and business name.
"That's what I need," Wolfe said. "A company name, a business something I can verify through the corporation commission to get a statutory agent; that’s who I serve."
Once she figures out the statutory agent, she uses one of the demand templates, references the law, inserts the call log, and mails the agent an offer to settle without going to court.
"It does take a little detective work, and it's like putting a puzzle piece together," Wolfe said, "At 3-thousand dollars a call, it's worth the work."
Wolfe says most companies settle but says sometimes she needs to go to small claims court to get a judgment.
"When my phone quits ringing and they stop trying to sell me stuff," Wolfe said, "That’s when ill stop."
If you would like to see the kit, you can find it here:
ONE NOTE:
Wolfe says going after scammers has been difficult.
According to Wolfe, scam calls are more difficult to find the needed information. Scammers normally operate outside the country and purposely make it difficult to find where they exist.
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