Stop fax spam on phone line
Maria Kovacs
numbers (dialing randomly). Since the caller ID says "Out of area" we
can't tell who is calling. The phone company says they can't do
anything. They suggested:
To try to forward the phone line to the fax machine but there is no
way to tell which line they will dial next and when. This would tie up
our regular phone line as well, preventing our customers to be able to
call us.
We were aslo told to try dialing - *1 to 0# - or *60 as soon as we
hear the first fax tone, but it does not work.
Is there anything we can do?
Vanguard
but they should have it. I use Qwest and they have it
(http://snurl.com/calltrace). However, if it is just another option to
simply Caller ID numbers then it won't be of any help.
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"Maria Kovacs" <maria...@lycos.com> wrote in message
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Steve M (remove wax for reply)
wrote:
I have no idea what services these are.
You didn't say anything about what part of the country or even what
country you are in. Many parts of the USA are served by SBC, and
there are a couple of options.
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Call Trace:
"How It Works
When you receive a bothersome phone call, hang up and wait ten
seconds, then press *57 (or dial 1157 on a rotary phone). The last
number that called you will be traced (it won't work if Call Waiting
is triggered in the meantime).
"After you initiate Call Trace, a recording will let you know whether
the trace is successful and provide an 800 number you can call to take
legal action. Write down the time and date of the call to match up
with our phone records. We can only give the traced number to a law
enforcement agency and our security department. Unless you live in
Texas, you'll need to sign up to make Call Trace available on your
line."
Pricing
$7 per successfully traced call (not attempts). There is no monthly
fee.
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Call Return
Calls back the last incoming number that called.
What it does
Allows you to call back the last incoming call without having to
redial the number.
How to use
Press *69 (1169 from a rotary phone) to automatically call back the
last number that called you, even if you didn't answer the call, so
you don't need to wonder who you just missed.If the line is free, your
call will go through. If it is busy, Call Return will check the line
for up to 30 minutes, and let you know when the line is free with a
distinctive ring.
For more details, see our User Guide for this service.
Pricing
$3.23 per month or $1.25 per use
==============
Call Return is less likely to be useful, because the incoming call is
probably being made by equipment and not by people.
I would also recommend that you write a strong letter to the phone
company and a copy to your Congressman, complaining about this. (I
have drafted one, but haven't gotten around to sending it because I'm
not having this problem, but sometimes it happens here too.)
My letter would complain that (a) the telephone industry charges for
caller ID, then (b) charges extra to block Anonymous calls (where the
caller has intentionally and openly blocked their own caller ID from
being sent to you), but (c) you can't block "Out of Area" calls, even
though you know that the caller has paid a telephone company
intentionally not to transmit this information and also NOT to
identify the call as "blocked caller ID." The phone company also (d)
offers a paid service where they can block such calls, and then (e)
charges more money to trace such calls, but (e) with this option you
can't even learn the identity of the sender until you report it to law
enforcement and IF they even get involved.
One final idea: borrow a fax machine and put it on the line, and let
a couple of incoming faxes come through. Trace the business(es)
listed in the faxes, file complaints with the FCC, and sue them for
sending the faxes.
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Steve M - uns...@houston.rrwax.com
remove wax for reply
David Efflandt
We only occasionally have someone try to send a fax to our phone number by
mistake. So I programmed a button on our receptionists phone to transfer
the call to one of our fax lines. I think it works something like a
conference call, which dials our fax on a different line and connects the
2 together, because our fax lines do not run through our main phone
system. It is an Avaya (formerly Lucent) Partner phone system. But we
have 3 incoming lines and more outgoing lines, so relaying a fax would
still leave 2 incoming lines open.
--
David Efflandt - All spam ignored http://www.de-srv.com/
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JM
Try sending a SIT tone into the line when you pick up and hear the fax.
A SIT tone is what you when you hear when you dial a disconnected number.
Many computerized phone spamming systems listen for the SIT tone, then remove
the invalid numbers. The most commonly known device the emmits the SIT tone
is the Telezapper. You can get a recording of the SIT tone and manually play
it into the phone, or put it on your answering machine.
John Hunter
> Try sending a SIT tone into the line when you pick up and hear the fax.
> A SIT tone is what you when you hear when you dial a disconnected number.
> Many computerized phone spamming systems listen for the SIT tone, then remove
> the invalid numbers. The most commonly known device the emmits the SIT tone
> is the Telezapper. You can get a recording of the SIT tone and manually play
> it into the phone, or put it on your answering machine.
I recorded it onto my answering machine, followed by a message that says we're
screening our calls, and we STILL get morons who seem to think we're going to
buy their crap.
Though we get fewer than we used to.
BTW, I was told that you only need the first tone to trigger the removal. I was
told this by somebody in the telemarketing industry. Should I trust him because
he's an acquaintence, or distrust him because he's a telemarketer? :)
So we have the answering machine set up to screen calls, and my wife likes to
answer the phone anyway. It's for me, so she gives me the phone, and it's a
telemarketer.
No jury would convict.
---
It's Ensign Flintstone. He's Fred, Jim.