TomGo wrote: I suggest that they allow us to disable it for our own accounts, ie. as a account based setting.
Being able to toggle receiving faxes on and off wouldn't bother me. That's fine. I just question whether that would actually stop fax telemarketers completely. I definitely don't want the feature completely disabled.
You note correctly that receiving the fax will allow me to get the real info on the sender, but that doesn't get me the sending ph# which, as you point out, could still be blocked.
Here's what happens when spoofing occurs:
1) Spammer might be using a VoIP service that allows him or her to fake the outgoing number.
2) The fake outgoing number can be blocked. Let's say the fake number is 519-999-9999. You can set Fongo Mobile to block 519-999-9999. All calls from 519-999-9999 will be blocked, including these faxes, even though the outgoing number is spoofed.
Chances are the telemarketer, after a week (or a few days), changes the outgoing number. And then you have to block a new number.
3) Quite often 519-999-9999 is someone else's legitimate phone number, and you're now also blocking that person from calling you. Also the real person who owns 519-999-9999 will probably receive tons of calls complaining about telemarketing calls, despite the fact it's not that person's fault.
Anyway, my point is that you can still block future incoming fax calls from that spoofed number.
I don't answer calls from numbers that I don't recognize. If the call is important, I feel, the caller will leave a message. If you decline an incoming call, the call will go directly to voicemail. That's one method of being able to quickly determine whether an incoming call is a fax: send the call to voicemail; then check your voicemail.
And I once I get to the point that I reviewing the actual contents of the fax to try to figure out who sent it so I can take action against it, I've really lost by allowing them to waste so much of my time.
You can view the incoming fax in Fongo Mobile's voicemail section of the app. After the fax has been successfully transmitted to you, exit out of Fongo Mobile, then run Fongo Mobile again. Check the voicemail section of the app. You can read the fax within a few minutes of it being fully received directly from within the app. You can also have the fax automatically forwarded to your email address. So, the process of receiving and reading the fax isn't necessarily time consuming. In fact, Fongo Mobile makes receiving faxes extremely convenient. However, reacting or reporting the fax to the RCMP (if it's a scam) or the CRTC (if you decide to register your number on the Do Not Call List) certainly can be time consuming, unfortunately. You can report scams/fraud here:
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/scams-fraudes/index-eng.htm. The Do Not Call List can be found here:
https://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/insnum-regnum-eng.
I do agree that telemarketing calls (fax or voice) are annoying. Hopefully, it becomes more difficult for Canadian sources, at least, to spoof numbers after March 31st, 2019:
https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2018/2018-32.htm.