How to get money for spam calls

If money is a little tight these days, there’s a side hustle that’s helping some consumers: cashing in on robocalls. A little-known law helps you turn those annoying calls into cold hard cash.

"When my phone rings now, I just go, 'cha ching!'" said Scott Taylor, who estimates he's gotten a whopping 6,000 robocalls — and has collected $13,500 from robocallers.

John Watson recently settled his case against a robocaller. A non-disclosure agreement prevents him from telling us how much he was awarded. But he said he was satisfied.

"It had nothing to do with money. It was to make a statement. You just can't treat people like that," Watson said. "If you're going to hit, you have to hit them hard in pocket so that they know that what they did was wrong."

So how did they do it? There’s a federal law that gives you the right to turn those annoying calls into cash. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act makes it illegal for a business to call your phone using an auto dialer without your permission, and every time they do, they could owe you up to $500.

And if your number is on the National Do Not Call Registry or if the company willfully violates the act, they could owe you up to $1,500 per call.

But getting this money isn’t easy.

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"This is difficult work. But it's doable work and you can get compensated," said consumer attorney Peter Holland. "And more importantly, in addition to the money, you can put an end to the turmoil."

Holland sues companies that engage in robocalls. Watson hired him and got results.

But there is a way to cash in on robocalls without an attorney: NBC4 found several do-it-yourself kits that walk you through the steps, because the process itself is tedious.

There were so many [robocalls] I couldn’t even keep count.

Leslie Millspaugh

First off, when you get a robocall, you have to answer it.

Get as much information about the company as you can: the company's name, address and callback number.

That’s so you can send them a demand letter. Some of those DIY kits offer templates for the letters.

And make sure you document the call, including all voicemail messages.

"There were so many I couldn’t even keep count," said Leslie Millspaugh, who is currently working with Holland to settle her robocall lawsuit. But her fight isn’t so much about the money. It's about ending the constant torment.

"I was having a hard time even being around people — it was awful," Millspaugh said.

As for Watson, the robocalls have stopped, but the emotional damage they caused won’t go away for a long time.

"I had a stroke, right up there in the hallway, from the stress," he said.

The law also applies to robocalls from debt collectors. And remember: Robocallers might be reluctant to give you information as to who they are because they know it can cost them, so when you speak to them, make sure you are the one getting information about them, and not the other way around.

Robocalls are among the most annoying problems in modern life. However, there may be a way to make a buck on the scammers by making them pay for annoying you.

Security experts estimate that half the calls people get are robocalls from telemarketers or scammers. More than 26 billion were logged last year.

“They’re unbelievably annoying,’’ said Frank Cassidy.

Kaitlin Marks said there seems to be no way to shut them down. She said she gets them every day.

An app called Do Not Pay now promises to turn the tables on the robocallers with its “Robocall Revenge.”

"It gets you cash compensation every time a robocall calls you up,’’ said inventor Joshua Browder. “That’s up to $3,000 per call.”

RELATED: Report Robocalls: Your information can help stop them

The app starts by making sure the user is on the “do not call” registry. Broder said that makes it a federal civil crime to call a person. Once a caller violates that, they’re open to being sued.

“How would I do that?” asked Frank Cassidy. “I don’t have the money to sue people.”

The app does the suing. “When they call you, the app will make a log of the call and it generates all the paperwork so you can sue them under something called the Telephone Consumer Protection Act,” Browder said.

Do Not Pay also generates a fake credit card number that can be given to the robocaller — even if they’re using a spoofed number.

“When they try and run the card through the payment network, we get their phone, address, and name,” Browder said.

“That is something I’d look into if steps were taken for me,” Marks added.

That’s not the only way to make money on robocallers. A $47 kit created by a Texas man gives step-by-step instructions on how to sue the robocalls. The guide was the brainchild of Doc Compton.  A small group of people bought into the idea and one of them saved upwards of $30,000. 

“They look at it as the cost of doing business,” he said. “And if they pay a $1,500 for some of these calls, oh well.”

Federal law mandates a $500 fine if a company calls using an auto-dialer without permission. That fee triples if the number is on the “do not call” registry.

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