A fax machine in Twin Cities, MN is calling me late at night about once a week. I do not have a fax, so I just hear beeping. I have the number and tried faxing the company but the line was always busy regardless of the time. I believe the number belongs to a telemarketing firm or a firm that does mass faxing. I first contacted my phone company in September and was advised to trace the calls while they tried to obtain the name and number for the firm. They contacted the Minnesota phone company but they were uncooperative and did not provide a name for the firm. When I called my phone company this morning to report that I continue receiving faxes, I was told that there was nothing more they could do and suggested I change my phone number or contact the police to report the harassing faxes.
I am turning to you for help and welcome any suggestions you may have. Please note that I do not want to change my phone number or turn off my ringer at night. I would also like to avoid burdening the police with this problem.
My dad has had this problem for over a year now, and the phone company has also told him that there’s absolutely nothing they can do. He’s retired, living alone, and is not in the mood to hook up a fax machine to find out who these people are. I find it hard to believe that with all of our phone technology there’s no way for the phone company to do anything about this.
Do you have some sort of caller ID? or the facility where you can ring a number after the call to see who it was? If you can, then perhaps you could send them a fax (from a public machine) telling them to stop…
Is there a reason why you can’t just unplug your phone when you go to bed, and re-plug it in in the morning?
Legomancer.
I completely agree. It is frustrating that the phone company is unable to put a stop to this. Should your father want to have a record, he can trace the faxes for a dollar each. My phone company said to:
Answer the call.
Hang up.
Pick up the phone and dial *57.
Shadow Warrior.
I do have caller ID, that is how I have the number. All that shows up is the number and Twin Cities, MN. I already tried calling and faxing the number. The line is ALWAYS busy, whether three pm or am. That is why I need the number for the main line. I do not want want to unplug my phone or turn off the ringer at night because I want to be able to be reached in case of an emergency.
I haven’t tried this, but this was the suggestion I got when this last happened to me.
Hook an answering machine up to the phone and set it to answer on the first ring. For the message, find a number with an out of service tone and record it at the beginning, followed by your normal message. What I was told is that fax machines will detect the tone, stop sending and generate an error report that lists the phone as out of service. Some automatic dialing systems used by telemarketers also apparently detect the tone and remove the number from their database, so there might be an additional benefit!
The only reason I haven’t tried it is that they stopped before I could set it up and I’m too lazy to find an out of service number without the aggravation to prod me into it. But if it works let me know!
You might try going to http://www.infospace.com and using the reverse lookup option (it’s on the main page, under White pages), then entering the number in the business section to see if you can get a name for the business. You can also try it as a residential - I’ve occasionally found numbers for businesses in there as well.
Rutabegger.
That sounds like the Tele-Zapper and I am considering getting one just for the sake of the faxes. If I do buy it, I will certainly let you know the results.
Lsura.
I already tried http://www.reversephonedirectory.com, which has several directories (including Infospace) and resulted in no matches. Even the all mighty Google did not yield a match.
What’s the number? What I’m wondering is if we could round it down and determine who it is. What I mean is that my work sufix is 5640, but if you call 5000 you’ll get the main number for the company. If it’s a big company with a lot of extensions they may control a block of numbers and you could track them down that way. The way to check would be to try a few variations and see if you got consistent results - if 5000 got a hit with something that sounds like a company name, but everything 5nnn failed that would be suggestive to me.
Try receiving the fax - either via a fax machine, or by setting up your computer to receive faxes. The fax itself may have a voice callback number on it, especially if it’s some sort of advertising.
Rutabegger.
Great idea! I just tried it. The suffix is 0760. 0700 was not in service. 0000 is disconnected. 0761 no reply, no machine. I thought your idea would work, perhaps it will work for someone else.
Athena.
Another good idea! How would I go about setting up the computer to receive faxes? I do not have DSL or cable, just a 56k modem.
I thought if you reported harrassing phone calls, the phone company was obligated to do something about it. This certainly seems to constitute harrassment to me. But what do I know…
If you have the fax number why can’t you block them from calling your house?
We did that years ago to my sister’s “boyfriend”. He got a recorded message when he called the house saying we weren’t taking calls from that number and our phone never rang.
FairyChatMom.
The phone company said there was nothing else they could do. They told me to get a case number from the police and give it to them so that they can force the MN phone company to divulge the name of the firm. I will call my phone company again tomorrow and ask to speak with a supervisor to verify that they do indeed need a case number.
In Conceivable.
According to my phone company, they can not block out of state calls. I will ask about the feature you mentioned since it sounds different from call block.
Look into telecommunication laws for your juristiction. Typically, there are laws that specify the hours that faxes may be sent from a business (same as telemarketing).
Example/ In Canada the CRTC regulates telecommunications under federal juristiction. Unsolicited fax broadcasts may only be sent between the hours of 9am and 9:30 pm. If you tell whoever is sending the fax to stop – they have 7 days to comply or they can face costly fines. Once you are on their “do not call list”, it must remain in effect for three years.
Most telephone companies of a service like “Call Screen” (it may be called something else though, depending on your phone company). It blocks call from any number you choose. Even if they have a number that does not show up on call display (like when your display just says “Private Number”) you can still block the number out.
There is also a “call trace” service you can subscribe to. In that case, the number is not revealed to you but is kept on file and may be released to the police. I’m not sure how it works though.
I really like this idea. The FCC lists a number on its Unwanted Telephone Marketing Calls page. 1-888-CALL-FCC. I plan on contacting them for information. The FCC site also states “The FCC’s rules prohibit telephone solicitation calls to your home before 8 am or after 9 pm. … The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) sponsors the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) which maintains a do-no-call list. DMA members are required to use this list. Once you register, your name stays on file for 5 years.” http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/tcpa.html
According to the phone company, call block does not work for out of state number. I plan to inquire about the blocking feature that In Conceivable mentioned.
I already know the fax number and trace all the faxes that occur while I am home.
The problem is that I do not have a phone number for the firm that will connect me with a human being. All I have is the fax number, which is continuously busy. I am trying to figure out a way, with the Dopers’ help, to obtain the main line number for this firm. (Or a solution like Rutabegger’s Tele-Zapper that will eradicate the fax calls.)
Thank you for all the suggestions. Here is an update.
The FCC advised me to register on the Do Not Call list; registration can be done through the mail or online http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/tcpa.html. They also sent me an email with information about unwanted faxes. Call 1-888-CALL-FCC and ask for it. Or I can forward it to you via email.
Contacted my phone company again this morning and spoke with a much more helpful person. The gentleman explained that the reason they needed a police case number is because each phone company has different requirements for disclosure. He is going to tell the MN phone company that I do not need the firm name or number as long as the firm is told to remove me from their list.
For right now I am waiting to see if the man at the phone company is successful. If not, I will then try installing a fax program to receive the fax via computer or buy the Tele-Zapper.
ShadowWarrior.
Thank you for the links. It is nice to have the option of free downloads.
