Wrong Number Robocall Lawsuit: Calls Meant for Someone Else

Wrong-number cases usually start the same way: a company has a phone number in its records for a customer, the customer gave up that number, and it now belongs to you. The company's automated system keeps calling, often daily, playing a recorded message about a past-due bill, a health plan, or an account you have never heard of.

These calls are also common when a customer typed the wrong number on an application, or when a debt collector skip-traces a debtor to a number that turns out to be yours.

Wrong number lawsuits usually allege that the company:

• Made robocalls with a prerecorded or artificial voice to your cell phone without your consent;
• Kept calling after you said it had the wrong number; and
• Failed to use available tools, such as the FCC's Reassigned Numbers Database, to check whether the number had changed hands.

Why reassigned numbers cause so many calls

Phone numbers are a limited resource, so carriers put disconnected numbers back into circulation after a waiting period. A new subscriber may inherit a number that is still sitting in the records of lenders, collection agencies, pharmacies, insurers, and retailers that had it on file for the previous owner. Unless those companies check whether the number changed hands, their automated systems keep dialing. The FCC set up the Reassigned Numbers Database, with carriers reporting permanently disconnected numbers every month, precisely so callers could catch these changes before calling.

Concora Credit

In Seals v. Concora Credit Inc., Concora agreed to a $9,375,000 settlement for people who were not Concora account holders but received prerecorded or artificial voice calls from Concora on their cell phones between May 2, 2021 and May 31, 2026. The court preliminarily approved the settlement on August 5, 2026. The fund also pays notice and administration costs, attorney's fees, and an incentive award to the named plaintiff before class members are paid.

Molina Healthcare

In Kruzel v. Molina Healthcare (D. Or. No. 6:23-cv-01183), Molina Healthcare agreed to create a non-reversionary $1,927,500 fund for people who received prerecorded calls between May 30, 2021 and April 21, 2026 about a Molina plan or account that was not theirs, including calls placed by a vendor on Molina's behalf. The final approval hearing was held by phone on August 17, 2026.

O'Reilly Automotive

Wrong-number problems also apply to texts. O'Reilly Automotive's $18,842,577 settlement covers people whose numbers were on the Do Not Call Registry and who received more than one O'Reilly marketing text after the number was reassigned to them. Claims are due September 28, 2026. See our spam text lawsuit page for details.

Case	Fund	Status
Seals v. Concora Credit	$9,375,000	Claims due October 19, 2026
Kruzel v. Molina Healthcare	$1,927,500	Final approval hearing held August 17, 2026
Bryan v. O'Reilly Automotive (texts)	$18,842,577	Claims due September 28, 2026

New wrong-number cases are filed regularly against lenders, collectors, health plans, utilities, and retailers. They tend to settle because the key defense in most TCPA cases, consent, is usually missing: a company cannot rely on consent from a former customer to robocall the person who has that number today.

These settlements also tend to be easier to claim than many consumer settlements. Because the defendant's own call records show which numbers were dialed, administrators can often identify class members and mail or email notices directly, and a claim may need little more than confirming the phone number.

The Supreme Court's 2021 Facebook v. Duguid decision narrowed "autodialer" claims, but it did not affect claims based on prerecorded or artificial voices. That is why nearly all current wrong-number cases, including Concora and Molina, focus on recorded voice calls.

You may qualify if:

1. The calls went to your cell phone and played a recorded or artificial voice.
2. They were about someone else's account, bill, or plan, or were meant for a prior owner of your number.
3. You were not a customer of the company and never consented to its calls.
4. The calls were within the last 4 years or within an open settlement's class period.

For the Concora settlement specifically, you must not have been a Concora account holder and must have received a prerecorded or artificial voice call on your cell phone between May 2, 2021 and May 31, 2026.

Who probably does not qualify: people who received only live-agent calls with no recording and no autodialer, people who were themselves the customer, and people who received a single call and nothing more (though one unlawful call can still technically be a violation). Calls to a landline follow somewhat different rules.

Cell phones, landlines, and texts

The strongest wrong-number claims involve cell phones, because the TCPA requires prior express consent for any prerecorded or artificial voice call to a wireless number, even an informational one. Prerecorded calls to a residential landline are also restricted, but the rules include more exemptions for non-marketing calls. Texts sent to a reassigned number can support claims too, as the O'Reilly settlement shows, although appeals courts now disagree on whether texts count as calls under some parts of the law.

If the calls are actually about a debt you owe and come from a collector, the debt collector harassment page covers the separate rules that apply.

Each prerecorded or artificial voice call to a cell phone without consent can carry $500 in statutory damages, trebled up to $1,500 if the caller acted willfully or knowingly. Wrong-number cases often involve dozens or hundreds of calls to one person, so individual claims can be substantial on paper.

Calls made after you told the company it had the wrong number are the most likely to be treated as willful, because the company knew it lacked consent. As a simple illustration of the statute's math, 30 recorded calls would be $15,000 at $500 each, and up to $45,000 if a court found every call willful. Real cases rarely end at the maximum; defendants contest the call count, the type of call, and whether willfulness can be proven, and many individual cases settle for less.

Class settlements pay less per person. The Concora fund of $9,375,000 will be shared among valid claimants after fees and costs; the final amount per person depends on how many people file. Read how much you can get from a TCPA lawsuit and how class action money is divided for how these numbers usually work out.

If you received a very large number of calls, consider speaking with a lawyer before the opt-out deadline. Opting out preserves your right to bring your own case, which may be worth more than a class share.

• 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A)(iii). Bars calls to a cell phone using an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice without the prior express consent of the called party.
• The called party. The consent that matters is that of the person who now has the number. A former owner's consent does not transfer with the number.
• Reassigned numbers safe harbor (47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(m)). A caller that had valid consent from a prior owner avoids liability only if it checked the FCC's Reassigned Numbers Database, received an answer that the number had not been disconnected, and the database's answer was wrong. The caller bears the burden of proving it.
• Damages (§ 227(b)(3)). $500 per violation or actual loss, whichever is greater, and up to three times that for willful or knowing violations.

Companies sometimes argue that they had consent because the debtor listed the number on an application, or because the number appeared in a data vendor's records. Those arguments rarely help against someone who never had an account. Once you tell the company it has the wrong number, it can no longer claim to believe it was calling its customer.

Phone carriers report permanently disconnected numbers to the database each month, so callers have a tool to catch reassignments. Failing to use it is a recurring theme in wrong-number complaints. See the TCPA explained.

• Concora Credit settlement: file a claim, exclude yourself, or object by October 19, 2026.
• O'Reilly Automotive text settlement: claims due September 28, 2026.
• Individual TCPA claims: 4 years from each call under the federal catch-all statute of limitations.

If you do nothing in a settlement you belong to, you usually give up your claims against that company without receiving money. Filing a claim usually takes a few minutes; many settlements ask for the phone number that received the calls and the claim ID printed on your notice, if you got one.

1. Tell them once, clearly. Answer or call back and say you are not the person they want and to stop calling. Write down the date, time, and name of the representative.
2. Document every call afterward. Screenshot your call log weekly and save voicemails to a computer.
3. Find your number's start date. Your carrier can confirm when the number was assigned to you, which helps prove you were not the customer the company was trying to reach. Old phone bills work too.
4. Check open settlements. If you got recorded calls from Concora or texts from O'Reilly, file on the official settlement website before the deadline.
5. Do not give personal information to the caller. Confirming your details can muddy the record and expose you to scams. You only need to say the person they want does not have this number.
6. Get a review. Independent attorneys who handle TCPA cases can tell you whether a pending class covers your calls or whether you should file on your own.

Claims in pending cases are allegations until resolved. If a company keeps robocalling you for someone else, a free case review takes about two minutes. For related claims, see our robocall lawsuit page.