How to Stop Spammy Faxes

In the 1970’s, to send important documents around, a new business service was invented; Federal Express, now known ad FedEx. It changed how business was done and greatly improved efficiency. Interestingly, you NEVER got spam from FedEx. It was totally reliable and trusted, and it still is.

When the fax machine was introduced, it was predicted that FedEx would soon go out of business. Why pay them to deliver a document the next day when you could send it instantly.

As the fax machine began adaption by businesses, there was a problem. Not everyone had one. So, there was a bit of uselessness to them.

Then, when a company did finally get one, everyone wanted to play with this new technology. They became a novelty. When they found someone that they could fax with, they started sending things back and forth for fun. Joke lists, job applications, etc.

However, in the early days, this was an expensive hobby. Not only did the early fax machines require special thermal fax paper and expensive toner, they also incurred long distance charges. Since this was not traceable to individual users, the abuse escalated. The bosses were not happy.

And, that’s how SPAM started.

The original fax spam was an ‘Invoice for Faxing’. It was just a fake invoice but somehow, many people would pay them, not truly understanding the actual costs. They would go out monthly to the people that actually paid the invoice.

When long distance charges went away, the bad guys figured out how to mas fax their scams to the whole country. It’s never stopped.

So, how do you stop this fax spam?

Officially; FCC regulations require spam faxes to include a method to opt out of receiving future faxes, so this should be an option or it can be reported to the FCC.

- Obviously, the spammers don’t follow that rule. And, reporting them is useless as they just spoof random fax numbers.

The fix for spam faxes is to block the fax number in your mail client settings.

If you are receiving fax via email, you have the option to build a filtering rule within your email portal. Once you tag a number, any email that comes in containing that number, is automatically sent to the trash folder.

Here’s an example of how you can create a filtering rule for a spam fax number:

When you receive a fax from FAXtopia, the Subject line reads:

‘You have received a fax from 555-555-5555’

Within your e-mail client, set a Rule that any email that contains 555-555-5555 is automatically sent to the trash / deleted folder. You will never again see them in your inbox.

You can see a little more detail on this article about Fax Spam.

However, be super careful not to create a rule against actual the fax service provider. If you do all your faxes will get deleted. Just block the re-mails that contain the spam fax number.

If you need help with your specific e-mail system, just ask your system administrator to show you how to do this simple process.

My your future be a little less spammy.