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?"

Comments

Consistency here will be key

[Humba]

I think we should have a consistent answer to the guy who answers the 800 number. Something like "Sorry, wrong number. Bork bork." ?

--H

Solution

[bobthemuse]

Call them under a pseudonym, tell them you want to place an order for group travel for your company, have them fax a quote to you. Chances are they will use their real fax machine (programmed with their real phone number) instead of the auto-dial bank. If you can scam them under the pretenses of faxing an order, that's even better. Have a local (or use cheap voip service) to spam them back a copy of their advertisement, marked up liberally with a black marker.

While it probably won't get you off the list, it will make you feel better.

Reminds me of an old trick

[youngerpants]

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 :)

Well...

[raehl]

Are you sure the return number is even theirs?

How much does this cost THEM?

[Em Ellel]

Ok, one thing I am missing, how much does it cost them? I mean f they are sending the faxes from UK, it will be too costly, but if they are sending it via some sort of internet relay, go after the relay - they are in the US and must obey laws. What am i missing here?

-Em

Re:How much does this cost THEM?

[Mattwolf7]

NO!

http://www.flamingo-travel.com/Home/News.asp?ID=1

-----------------
We have been recieving phone calls from people angry that we are sending them fax specials like $99 to Disney and Kids Free. Please know that they are NOT coming from Flamingo Travel Group in Pennsylvania. They are coming from a company in Florida calling themselves Flamingo Travel. Their phone number is 1-800-328-9795 and they sell time shares.

Re:Spam him back

[MukiMuki]

A couple of karma-whoring things...

Number 1 : Free World Dialup

Number 2 : Why are you still using a fax machine? Get a cheap computer up on some fax software and you can auto-filter your faxes. Not to mention the savings you'll get from not using any toner. Then just lazer print anything worth keeping.

Re:Too many fishy facts...

[FesterDaFelcher]

Scratch that, after searching a little more the number is right, dial away!!!!

Yes

[ArchieBunker]

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.

A question of scale.

[mikeophile]

Is my only weapon having a bunch of friends call this 800 number to make the company's overseas toll-free phone bill unbearable?

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!

I just called

[SethJohnson]

The phone was answered by a non-british accented woman. Probably american accent. She said it was not Flamingo Travel but it is a travel agency.

Here's the deal. This is probably being done by an aggregator. The spammer is probably giving out a specific 1-800 number that forwards to a 'reputable' travel agency. Whatever is booked off this phone number is then given a commission to the spammer. It might even be a flat commission on the number of calls, completely ignoring the sales made. So, essentially, it could be like a banner click-thru deal and by us calling, the spammer is making mega-bling.

In any case, if you're going to call this number, be sure to alert the person that you are simply calling to complain about the faxes. This will help the travel people understand that the garbage calls they are receiving are the result of unpleasant and intrusive advertising practices.

Somethings definitely up with these people

[CptChipJew]

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.

I think you're right

[SethJohnson]

I checked on the guy who posted this.. there's really no history of him posting anything on slashdot prior to this--

iotashan

Seems like a banner click thru scam, but this time it's with a 1-800 number. Brilliant.

How to fake an order

[dtfinch]

For academic purposes only. Know the laws of your state.

First, you'll need a credit card number.
Visa numbers are constructed like this like this:
Start with the digit 4
16 digits altogether
The checksum they must pass is:
Take the even digits, double them, and add the resulting digits together to get a new digit. (or just map 0-9 to 0246813579 for the even digits).
Then add all the digits together. If it's a multiple of 10, the card number is valid. A quick way to generate would be to start with 4 plus 14 random digits, calculate the checksum of those 15 digits, and subtract from 10 to get the remaining digit.

Their machines will initially accept them, and be forced to contact visa to verify their correctness, at which time they'd fail, but result in small charges to their merchanct account. Enough bad card numbers can get an account suspended.

Update on Flamingo's Website

[Alex711]

Click on the website of the site and you will get the following message (It's probably a good idea to calm down now): We have been recieving phone calls from people angry that we are sending them fax specials like $99 to Disney and Kids Free. Please know that they are NOT coming from Flamingo Travel Group in Pennsylvania. They are coming from a company in Florida calling themselves Flamingo Travel. Their phone number is 1-800-328-9795 and they sell time shares. FILE YOUR COMPLAINT: http://ftp.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/unwantedfaxes .html ***We do not send faxed specials...ever...period.*** ***We do not send email blasts...we only send email to people that ask for it*** ***We remove people right away if they change thier mind at any time.*** ***We value our privacy and we would never violate yours by sharing privledged contact information. *** ***We have nothing to do with time shares. Personally, I think they are a bad idea*** A reputable Travel Company will provide you with: 1. A Physical Address of thier place of business. 2. Their phone, fax and email information. 3. Their IATA number. 4. They will never ask for your income information...it's none of thier business. 5. Any reputable company should allow you time to check them out, offer information to help you check them out and this information should be verifiable.