Fax-Spam -- What Can One Do? 63
phoneAlone asks: "Recently a friend has moved into a new home, where his phone number was previously used as a fax-line and receives a frequent amount of faxes all hours of the day and night. Attempts to contact the senders of this "fax-spam" and be removed from these lists are unsuccessful. What is your experience with fax-spams? What actions (legal or otherwise) can be used to combat this?"
Erm... Phone Number? (Score:2, Interesting)
1. Depending on the country, and phone company that we're dealing with, it may be possible to get the phone number(s) of the caller(s), and, while not blocking them, try to contact them. This could still be legit, despite first appearances.
2. Try changing phone c
Re:Erm... Phone Number? (Score:2)
Sue Company for Business Expense? (Score:2)
Beside changing the number (Score:3, Interesting)
And if the new location has phone lines too, try switching the fax and phone lines. You'll get plenty of beeping calls, but they should disappear as their sends will be unsuccessful.
Re:Beside changing the number (Score:1)
I think he already is using the line as a phone line, and that's the problem; the phone rings all the time with fax machines trying to spam him.
Also, the fax machines will never try to stop sending, because much like e-mail SPAM, that list has been sold to many different companies. I've had a voice line that got fax spam, a
Re:Beside changing the number (Score:2)
I know this problem myself. Periodically I would receive calls with nobody (just dead silence) on the other end. Last year I purchased one of these multi-function devices (printer, fax, scanner, copier..) and, stupidly enough, enabled the fax receiver (It would let me or my answering machine pick up the phone, then if it turned out to be a fax
Re:Beside changing the number (Score:2)
A dead call indicated either a modem (modems wait for the answering phone to respond with the initial synch tones, it is why a modem can tell if a person or a modem picks up) or the telemarketers predictive / predator dialing machines.
Call the Phone company (Score:3, Interesting)
If faxes persist, send the phone company a letter with a hefty dose of legalese, reminding them of the fact they are charging you for something you have already told them to stop. Companies tend to take people more seriously when they show resolve and are seemingly willing to settle the situation in court.
At this point, the phone company is pissed and will turn it's efforts towards the culprit. Worked for me, should definately work for you.
illegal--phone company/FCC remedy (Score:3, Interesting)
this happened to my parents; the above remedy does in fact work. best of luck!
Re:illegal--phone company/FCC remedy (Score:2)
We couldn't change the number of our fax machine (don't ask me why) so we hooked it up to an
Bad advice but... (Score:4, Funny)
1.) Acquire a fax machine.
2.) Connect to above mentioned abused phone line.
3.) Print three sheets of paper that contain the message in large obnoxious print:
Stop Faxing Me At 555-(myphonenumberhere)!
(or whatever you'd like to say)
4.) Tape the top of sheet two to the bottom of sheet one, tape the top of sheet three to the bottom of sheet two. (this order may have to be inverted depending on how your fax machine feeds and scan pages (bottom to top, top to bottom) etc. Figure out the proper order to do step 5 correctly.)
5.) Feed sheet one into your recently borrowed/acquired fax machine on the phone line. Dial and transmit to the offending non responsive party.
6.) Once page one has transmitted, and the machine is working on page two, tape the bottom of page three to the top of page one so your transmitting fax machine has a nice three page loop of your message.
7.) Leave fax machine and go to bed. By morning the offensive party will have dozens of copies of your message (as many as the number of sheets their fax paper tray contained), hopefully making enough of an impression upon them that fax spam truly is annoying, and they just might consider ceasing to do it to you.
All in all, it's an old trick and I by no means take credit for it. It's a very immature act, and pretty much a bad idea. You would be just as guilty of harassment as the offending party. However, if all else fails....
Re:Bad advice but... (Score:1, Insightful)
Sadly, no longer effective (Score:2, Insightful)
a) is done with computers, not with fax machines, thus there is no paper/toner on the spammer's end to waste
b) is done by someone with enough lines that tying one up won't affect them
Bulk faxes typically come from places who have set up an operation to perform that specific task and then contract their services out to
Re:Bad advice but... (Score:1)
Re:Bad advice but... (Score:1)
Re:Bad advice but... (Score:2)
I once did something similar for e-mail price list spam. Some company kept spamming my business address with their latest hardware price lists. Reasonable methods to contact them and request removal had failed.
So I created a 700K image with nothing but the word REMOVE in it and sent it to them. I never received another e-mail from them after tha
are they sales faxes? (Score:1)
dust off your old BBS-client software, plug their sales response number (if 800, mind you.) into your software phone book, and set the retries to 99 (or 999 if you can). then script the thing to keep dialling the number all night.
800 numbers are charged back to the owner on a per-call basis. even if it's just a 3-5 second delay, then a hang up.
Charge THEM for your time using the same medium that they are. There is an elegance in ey
500 per fax (Score:2)
Google? (Score:3, Interesting)
The bottom line is you can't do it alone. The only way to get any results is to join a class action suit, or get the FCC involved. They will either fabricate evidence to stall and/or increase you legal expenses, or if you do win, they will just refuse to pay. I have no time right now to bother with this crap, so I just save all the faxes and hope I'll get a few bucks when the class action suit goes through.
Ask the phone company for a different number. (Score:2)
After a week of getting phone calls every frickin' weekday morning from well-meaning folks who wanted to buy ball or roller bearings, I scrounged up the correct number for the company and started giv
I feel your pain (Score:2)
So how did you answer? Did you yell to them, "I have no balls!" :-)
Actually, it happened to me. I feel your pain. First I got a number that was very close to the sales dept. of a local pipe and welding company (only they were in a new area code). Once, I got a particularly nasty call at 6AM: a guy
Re:I feel your pain (Score:2)
Are you sure she was an actual nurse, or someone who just dressed up in the costume?
FAX them back a black sheet of paper (Score:2)
Re:FAX them back a black sheet of paper (Score:2)
Re:FAX them back a black sheet of paper (Score:2)
Sue (Score:2)
Call Tom Martino (Score:2)
Tom Martino *hates* fax spam. So he had a website set up dedicated to busting fax spam. Basically, y
At work: put on hold (Score:2)
What would be cool is a getty hack that would keep re-handshaking on the fax, so you are in a perpetual handshake state with the fax on the other end. Get one of those boxes that will sp
FPS in the UK (Score:1)
Luckily, here in Britain, I was able to through our number in on the Facsimile Preference Service [fpsonline.org.uk] which put a stop to it almost immediately. Any further faxes then would have landed the sender a rather large fine for each one they send.
Short-term technical solution (Score:1)
I used a phone/fax-switch for that problem then.
For example: http://faxswitch.com/sr_next.html (no advertising intended, just an example. Really.)
Something like this might stop at least your phone from ringing all the time.
Only real answer (Score:1)
SPAM back? (Score:1)
After about 10 minutes or so, he received a call from a pretty hysterical person, who seemed to have the idea tha
Fax.com related articles on slashdot (Score:1)
Fax-Spammers fax.com Sued For 2.2 Trillion [slashdot.org]
You've attempted to contact the senders unsucessfully (its not stated whether you were successful in contacting them or not, and they just didn't bother to remove you from your list). Send them a letter stating that for each fax you will seek damages allowed under US law ($500/fax). This should scare some away, and you might be able to nail a couple in small claims court. Also, join the class action lawsuit against fax.com, they might b
fax.com responds to lawsuit (Score:1)
Fax.com response to lawsuit [216.239.39.104]
Quote from the article:
"... Katz refutes such charges and says that any recipient who wishes not to receive fax advertisements need only call the toll free number that appears on every fax distributed by Fax.com in accordance with California law"
Yeah right! If it was only that easy to remove yourself from their lists.
If you can get the numbers (Score:2)
SUE THE BASTARDS
Unlike spamming, there are very clear laws about junk faxes. If you have contacted these assholes and they refuse to stop, they are in violation of law, and you can file against them.
Nothing says "SHUT THE FUCK UP AND STOP BOTHERING ME" like a summons to court.
Of couse, the prerequisite to this is:
HIRE A LAWYER RATHER THAN BITCHING ABOUT IT ON SLASHDOT!
Fax a picture.... (Score:2, Funny)
we were the faxer in one case... (Score:1)
A way to 'get back' (Score:1)
I've had instances where my land-line voice phone has rung at 10 minute intervals over and over again and a fax machine was on the other end of the line. It was obvious that someone thought it was a fax-answering number.
My solution, and one that I've read about elsewhere, is to figure out what number is calling (dialing #69 has worked a few times in my case) and send 'faxes' back at them. If you have a Data/Fax modem on your system or one you can use (I us
Re:A way to 'get back' (Score:1)
This isn't good advice, don't do this. As you can read at many places in this artic
Re:A way to 'get back' (Score:2)
Re:A way to 'get back' (Score:2)
The obvious technological answer (Score:2)
You might be too antisocial to handle making a phone call to the only people who can actually solve your problem. In that event, there's a couple of rational ways of living with it:
Invest a few dollars in a voice/fax switch; install in an appropriately out-of-the-way
I had this happen (Score:2)
I was getting the fax calls primarily in bursts - every week or two, but when they came, the machine would apparently retry each 15 minutes for the first hour, then every hour or two for a while... even if this was during the wee hours of the morning. This particular fax machine would also leave voice mails "beep....... beep....". Not real good.
I ended up running *57 traces on them, and calling the phone company's Annoyance/Harrasing Ca
In the UK it's easy (Score:2)
I added out telephone numbers to the fax marketing opt-out list at www.dma.org.uk and in 60 days they had stopped dead.
I have had two junk faxes in that entire time since then. If only others things in life were so simple.
This is *harassment* (Score:2)
He should use caller ID to find out who is doing it (sounds like he already has). Contact them. If it happens again, file in small claims court.
The simple solution: hit *60 (Score:2)
Warning: I heard that there is a charge for this service, something like $1 per blocked number. I've never used it, so call your local telco for details.
fax snake.... (Score:1)
what is a fax snake? tape at least three pieces of paper together at the long ends. write a nice message asking to remove you from their list the long way across all three pages. feed the first page into the fax and senf it. as the first sheet comes out and the last goes in, tape the first to the last.
Let this run all night. in the morning, the owner of the nuber will have hundreds of sheets o
*57 (Score:2)
Then you can call the police and have them take care of it. Spam Faxing is a crime... and you might end up making a few thousand dollars out of the deal!
fax spam (Score:1)
Re:fax spam (Score:1)
Re:fax spam (Score:1)
Legal, Simple, Worked for me (Score:2)
I actually just used the opt-out 800-number at the bottom of each one, and within a week I was down to ZERO junk faxes. In the past year, I have had exactly one.
Note that this isn't the same as "attempting to contact the sender" -- the sender couldn't care less. The vendor couldn't care less. But the opt-out system seems to have real impact on the phone number lists.
There ya go. Not nearly as entertaining as the brainst
Unsolicited faxes are illegal in most states.. (Score:2)