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Fax-Spam -- What Can One Do?
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?"
At the risk of suggesting something fairly dramatic, the individual in question may have to resort to changing their phone number (which may be disastrous for a business, or merely an extreme annoyance for a home). First, some other possibilities:
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 company (if 1 doesn't work). Or, at least, ask different companies about the possibility of blocking certain phone numbers.
3. Finally, change phone number. This will certainly be extremely annoying for your friend, especially if they are running a business from home.
If you are able to work out who this fax-spammer _is_, you may be able to sue for stalking or some similar crime. Unfortuantely, the options would vary from country-to-country, and possibly state-to-state.
--- Egads, I glow in the dark!
Changing the number is obvious, but how about receiving faxes to a computer software? That way, paper is not wasted for one.
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.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
Tell them your situation (any half-assed phone co. would have records on hand to find the culprit number), tell them to block said number.
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.
Of all the Universal Constants, here's one I know: Nice guys finish last
fax spam is illegal under the federal telecommunications statutes, with severe penalties, even to working fax numbers. the phone company is able to trace these numbers, so request a trace from them after explaining what is happening, if they refuse to provide it or after you have the number, contact the FCC or send a demand letter indicating you will be contacting the FCC.
this happened to my parents; the above remedy does in fact work. best of luck!
U.S. War Crimes blog. Email for free Mandriva support.
The first result was junkfaxes.org. Another site is starting a class action lawsuit againt fax.com, one of the most previlant junk faxers. Fax.com also happens to be the scumbags faxing my line at least once a day, even when I shut off the fax machine.
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.