Slashdot Mirror
Stopping Overseas Fax Spam?
iotashan asks: "Likely for most businesses, unsolicited faxes have become quite a problem. They needlessly use up toner and paper, and are usually just scams anyway. Specifically, we are receiving faxes from a company called Flamingo Travel. Now, they appear to bug business across the US, and some innocent parties are falling victim. I have used their automated system for having my fax number removed, to no avail. Is my only weapon having a bunch of friends call this 800 number to make the company's overseas toll-free phone bill unbearable?"
"The latest fax listed a number to call to take advantage of the offer (800-328-9795), so I called it and asked to be removed. The woman took down my number, but rather smugly told me that they are in England so they do not have to obey the US unsolicited fax laws. She wouldn't provide me with any other company information, and then stopped answering calls from my number after repeated hang-ups. The FCC says that it is a civil matter, and to go through the courts. The Fax Preference Service in the UK says they cannot help people outside the UK. Do I have nowhere to turn except an expensive lawyer, armed with no information about the company?"
I think we should have a consistent answer to the guy who answers the 800 number. Something like "Sorry, wrong number. Bork bork." ?
--H
Slashdoting a fax line...I like it! And it's for a moderately good cause. How can you beat that?
EVERYDAY IS CATURDAY
tape 2 a4 sheets of black paper together lengthways, feed into fax machine and send. When the fax starts to feed through, tape together into a loop and leave it.
:)
That'll use up their toner
If you're reading this, dial 1-800-328-9795.
One call won't hurt. Keep them on the line as long as possible. Ask what they're wearing and when they stopped beating their kids and stuff.
I asked how many people have let them know how despicable fax smapping is now. The woman answering said nonchalantly "Oh, not very many". I let her know they'd be getting a lot more very soon now.
"Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!"
Or you could fax back a neverending loop of black paper. Always a fave around my office.
Weren't they replaced by steam-powered typewriters or something?
Lemon curry???
I would not suggest having someone over in GB find their telephone circuit (ISDN-PRI, T1/E1, or whatever). Disconnect that line from the local telco provider (no need in creating collateral damage), and proceed to "test" the line.
For proper testing equipment, keep in mind that a normal telephone circuit runs about 40 VDC with 200 VDC spikes when ringing (your mileage may vary). Data lines tend to be much more voltage limited. As such, application of high voltage, say from a Megger or a VanDeGraff Generator, may cause "issues" with the CPE.
I would not recommend you do this, but then again, you are certainly welcome to use your imagination. Yes, the 220 VAC mains common in GB should create "interesting" results...
I keep a piece of black construction paper next to my fax machine. Granted this does not work for all my spam messages, but anyone who is bold enough to send unsolicited order forms that are to be faxed to their fax machine will be running out of toner daily. Economic solutions to SPAM do exist!
When we call we tell them we are minuto sombato from nigeria. We have a million dollars we need to transfer into an account and we need there help.
We kept getting junk faxes from some company with a 1-800 reply number. Well created a blank 250 page word doc that was nothing but a black background. It took half an hour to send the whole thing and I let it run for a few hours. Never heard back from them again.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Not a bad weapon if you consider Slashdot a bunch of friends.
Wonder-slash powers activate!
Form of a massive 800 number DoSing!
Shape of a six digit phone bill!
Why it's the AT-5000 Auto-Dialer! My very first patent. Aw, would you listen to the gibberish they've got you saying it's sad and alarming? You were designed to alert schoolchildren about snow days and such. Well, let's get you home to Frinky. Hope your wheels still work.
I called, heard the phone pick up, "Reservations". So I said "I need reservations", and she hung up on me. Then I called back again and they picked up with no response. I said "Hello?", and they hung up.
So then I called and said "You're gonna die bitch". And then heard a bunch of women laughing.
Vonal Declosion
Even our spam is getting outsourced. Keep American spammers employed, buy your useless crap only from American spammers.
Share your offshoring story - My Job Went Over
Yeah, works great for me. It re-writes caller-id based on the names in my Mac's address book, recognizes certain callers and uses distinctive ring to tell what's happening, blacklists other numbers. I'm using it to send long-distance calls out via VoIP while still sending local calls via the POTS line that I can't get rid of. Great fun. Details on my blog.
hrm.. I currently have a cluster on an unmetered t3 hammering the shit out of them..
anyone got the real addy?
anime+manga together at last.. in real time.
I'm not yet sure of the details, but do you remember the scene in Brasil where the Central Services guys were "fixing" the HVAC systems in the appartment, and then Tuttle comes in on his zip line and does a cross-over between the sewer output line and the suit air input line and then the two Central Services guys suits fill up with sewage and explode? We need to somehow cross-connect the fax spammers with 419 scammers so they work on eachother.
We used to get a fax for free hair stuff until we took a 6 foot length of paper wrote "Stop Faxing us" on it, fed one end into our fax machine, created a big loop and faxed it back to the company once they had cloed up for the night... If you can get their fax number by hook or by crook... give it a try. If anything it will either tie up their computer fax or kill thier stack of paper and toner in one night.
Feed my eyes...