junk mail program detecting my fax line ?

[Parangles]

I assume that the junk mailers that are burning out my darn
fax cartridge and wasting my $#@&#ing paper are running some
automatic dialing program that sends an advertisment to any
fax line as soon as it detects one. These ads come in spurts.
7 different ones in one day and then nothing for days. Like they are working one area code at a time.
What can I do to defeat this pain in the butt. If I hook it up ( its a fax only line)to an answering machine with a message, eg. " please go ahead and send fax"
do you think that that will thwart the auto send when it hears a voice ?
Don't want to waste money buying an answering machine if it won't work.
Any other ideas?? Thanks.

[doctorgonzo]

If you live in an area that has this services, using "Anonymous Call Rejection" works well. These junk fax companies hide their phone numbers because it is illegal to send junk faxes, so with this service those call that are anonymous will not go through.

[Parangles]

I'm already paying $15 a year each for the Florida Dept of Agriculture
(Don't ask me why they're responsible !) to block phone solicitations
on the 3 lines in the house.
You are right about the return number being anonymous -I tried to
phone them back and spew some obscenities at them but their number was
bogus. How do I get on to "anonymous call rejection'?
By the way- worth knowing: You can get the account name and address for
a phone number on your caller ID, just by calling 411 and asking politely.
Chris.

[doctorgonzo]

Telemarketing is a different issue altogether: it is legal, and many states are regulating it by creating "Do not call" lists. But those lists won't do a thing for junk faxes, because they are all illegal. Up here, you turn on anonymous call rejection by using *77. It may be different elsewhere; check the front of the phone book or the phone company.