Home > Blogs > Sharon Leigh > Sharon's Graphic Reality's Blog

I DON'T EVEN OWN A FAX MACHINE!!!

By Sharon Leigh

Services for Real Estate Pros with Sharon's Graphic Reality

August 27, 2008 03:04 AM

OK, this is truly bizarre, received a phone call from a Prudential agent in California asking me about a 30 page fax he had just received that he thought was from me because it was basically all the pages asociated with one of my networking profiles online.

I don't even own a fax machine and I don't send faxes via the internet either. I have cable and I don't even have the phone line hooked into my computer. He's going to look at everything and see if he can find the original phone it came from and mean while I have to go around posting about this so no one thinks that was really me. I don't spam by phone or email either. I'm a no-spam zone! LOL... I laugh but at the same time, I am T-totally pissed about this. How can someone do that and better yet, why would they?

Have you ever had this happen to you or heard of it happening to someone else? How do I find out who's doing it? I have no idea how many people they sent this 30 page fax to, but I do know it's a major waste of ink and paper. If I did have a fax machine I think I would only hook it up when I am sending something and then turn it right back off, or if I knew something was incoming I would turn it on just forthat ad back off again.

I've heard of people receiving spam faxe before, but to do it as if it was sent from someone else, that feels invasive like having your computer hacked or something.

If you receive anything that looks like it's from me turn off your fax because apparently it's over 30 pages. Then please let me know about it. I'm hoping to find ot who is doing his and perhaps there will be an originating phone number listed so I can find out who this person is.

Thanks!

Sharon Leigh

CandelLife@Gmail.com

Re-Blog

Comments(32)

Comment

Show All Comments

Sort:

Doug Patterson

Keller Williams - Upstate Realty - Greenville, SC

Some of us still have to deal with faxes. I often find my clients making and receiving offers when on the road, from hotels. Scanning is not an option. They don't carry printers with them. I have to send and receive faxes. How some of you can avoid it totally is beyond me, unless you have more tech-savvy buyers who are always home.

I switched from eFax to MyFax today. It is half the price and includes 150 sent pages and a toll-free number at no charge. eFax often overbilled me. Long faxes often dropped several pages, and I'd still get billed. Good riddance.

Sep 23, 2008 09:27 AM

Mary Strang

Viroqua, WI

Sounds like maybe you have a fan, who wanted to share what you had to say, and dialed wrong. I for one am looking forward to the end of the fax machine.

Sep 24, 2008 01:01 AM

Sharon Leigh

Sharon's Graphic Reality - Port Saint John, FL

(Graphic Reality) Got PhotoLogo? CandelLife@Gmail.

LOL... well I don't know what it wa all about but I didn't hear from anyone else about this issue so perhaps it was only sent to the one person. I am so very careful not to spam people in anyway shape or form so when I received this phone call it was very unnerving to think someone might have mass spammed people making it look like I did it. Thank goodness it was only the one place. He never called back with more information so I guess the matter is over after all this time.

As far as using fax machines, I guess there's still people who use them but it's much more convenient to scan and email and you don't waste paper that way too. It could cut down on a huge problem of spam faxes if they had the faxes go to computers and then print only what they need to print and not just everything that comes through. I think it would make it easier to delete the spam and not waste all the paper and ink. Ink is almost more expensive than the printer in some cases! LOL...

Sep 24, 2008 06:50 AM

Bob & Carolin Benjamin

Benjamin Realty LLC - Gold Canyon, AZ

East Phoenix Arizona Homes

We get some weird faxes as well -- no no not from you. But there are people who seem to think it is ok to take up ones ink and paper -- they do not get it.

Sep 27, 2008 05:46 PM

Ryan Shaughnessy

PREA Signature Realty - www.preasignaturerealty.com - Saint Louis, MO

Broker/Attorney - Your Lafayette Square Real Estate Partner

Although it isn't the case here, identity theft is a problem. I see all sorts of personal information on myspace and other social networking sites that should really be private. If I don't give the information over the telephone or strangers in the grocery store, I certainly don't put it out on the web.

Oct 10, 2008 05:25 AM

Gita Bantwal

RE/MAX Centre Realtors - Warwick, PA

REALTOR,ABR,CRS,SRES,GRI - Bucks County & Philadel

I use efax as well as a fax machine. I will change the fax number I have on public sites to efax number.Thanks for the post.

Nov 05, 2008 10:31 PM

Gita Bantwal

RE/MAX Centre Realtors - Warwick, PA

REALTOR,ABR,CRS,SRES,GRI - Bucks County & Philadel

I use efax as well as a fax machine. I will change the fax number I have on public sites to efax number.Thanks for the post.

Nov 05, 2008 10:31 PM

Steve Laird

Anderson Real Estate Sales - Chico, CA

Steve Sells Chico Real Estate

EFAX is the only way to go. The opportunity of SPAMMING has certainly increased in this high tech market -

Nov 14, 2008 01:27 AM

Kris Kombrink ~ The Kombrink Team

RE/MAX Excels - Chicago's Western Suburbs - Geneva, IL

Scary story, Sharon. I hope you find out how this happened and share with us so we can avoid it happening to us.

Nov 21, 2008 02:52 AM

AMBER NOBLE GARLAND - Top Real Estate Expert, Property Tax Appeal Specialist & Author

Strategic Marketing Expert & Relocation Specialist Serving New Jersey and nationwide! - Marlboro, NJ

- The Agent You Can Trust To Deliver REAL Results!

Crazy story!

Nov 29, 2008 09:09 AM

Greg Wilson

1st Cornerstone Realty - Schaumburg, IL

Hello Sharon, I just wanted to wish you a Merry Xmas and Happy New Year. Greg

Dec 24, 2008 02:01 AM

Cindy Hartpence

Edisto Real Estate Company - Edisto Beach, SC

Wow! I never thought of this as a possibility...fax spam...goodness!

Hope you have a wonderful New Year!

Cindy

Jan 01, 2009 02:43 PM

Cindy Hartpence

Edisto Real Estate Company - Edisto Beach, SC

Wow! I never thought of this as a possibility...fax spam...goodness!

Hope you have a wonderful New Year!

Cindy

Jan 01, 2009 02:43 PM

Anonymous

valentine

you can use popfax services and you'll not need any fax machine. Try first Free Trial that doesn't need to write you credit card nr, then if you subscribe you'll receive faxes for free and unlimited and send them for only 0.05 EUR/page.

I am for about 2 years www.popfax.com

Feb 07, 2009 03:03 AM

#26

Sharon Leigh

Sharon's Graphic Reality - Port Saint John, FL

(Graphic Reality) Got PhotoLogo? CandelLife@Gmail.

Great tips, if I need to fax anything I'll check into these online sources, thanks!

Feb 08, 2009 04:48 PM

Robin Scott

Robin Scott, REALTOR® - Austin, TX

Broker, REALTOR® - Austin Texas

That's trully bizarre. I send from a FAX machine at home but receive to an efax account so I can access it from my computer.

Feb 13, 2009 02:14 AM

Sharon Leigh

Sharon's Graphic Reality - Port Saint John, FL

(Graphic Reality) Got PhotoLogo? CandelLife@Gmail.

Very good idea to do it that way. I have heard from many people since posting this about how much paper and ink can be wasted when your fax machine gets spammed. It's the same as using up al your minutes on your cell phone as far as I'm concerned, from a source that wasn't welcome.

Feb 14, 2009 08:52 AM

Bob Costello

Brokers Guild - Highlands Ranch, CO

I have seen this issue - there is a windows fax tool on every windows computer...supposed to connect to a phone / DSL line. Mostly, it just stays inactive. BUT when we had a new printer driver installed, somehow, the 'color printer' was trying to send faxes. We got it figured out, but it was wierd...

We use an email fax service occasionally...when a buyer 'signs' some pages we have them send it to our e-mail fax. Then we can file it on our computer, not in a file cabinet.

Feb 26, 2009 12:55 AM

Sharon Leigh

Sharon's Graphic Reality - Port Saint John, FL

(Graphic Reality) Got PhotoLogo? CandelLife@Gmail.

I'm considering switching from broadband to dsl which would work on the phone line. I'll have to look into using the fax on the computer. Honestly, I haven't faxed in so many years, even on the computer, I'll have to find a guide on how to do it through outlook.... LOL I think that's the way I used to do it.

Mar 09, 2009 01:03 PM

Bob Costello

Brokers Guild - Highlands Ranch, CO

Best way to stop fax spam is to change your fax number. When I switched to www.FAXtopia.com I chose a new fax number and slowly migrated over. All the fax brochures from contractors stopped.....

I don't make my fax number public; not on my business card. If someone needs it I'll give to them.

Aug 10, 2009 06:08 AM