The Better Business Bureau gets junk faxes too! Last week the BBB serving Dallas and Northeast Texas received an unwanted fax from EnviroFax Commission that raised a lot of questions.
What does the fax from EnviroFax Commission offer?
The fax is headlined “Fax Us Your Unwanted Faxes” and gives a toll-free fax number. The offer: “We will contact the sender and have your fax number permanently removed from their fax list.”
The BBB notes that, under a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rule, anyone can “opt-out”, or ask to be removed from a fax sender’s list. No one is required to send a fax number to EnviroFax Commission or any other service in order to be removed from a sender’s list.
What is EnviroFax Commission?
According to the fax, “EnviroFax Commission is a nonprofit corporation. Its assistance is FREE. EnviroFax does not sell goods or services and will not contact you.”
The BBB in Dallas hasn’t been able to learn any further information about EnviroFax Commission, or confirm that it’s a non-profit organization. An Internet search didn’t turn up a Web site or an address.
Why is EnviroFax making this offer? What is EnviroFax doing with fax numbers it collects?
EnviroFax claims it is offering this service because “Many recipients do not take the time to remove faxes or opt-out improperly which results in continued unwanted faxes.”
Why would an organization offer – for free – to help recipients stop unwanted faxes? One guess is that EnviroFax Commission isn’t a nonprofit organization at all, but is a business. EnviroFax might be collecting active fax numbers (that is, numbers that recipients fax back from) in order to use those active numbers to send additional faxes or to sell to fax blasters.
How can you stop junk faxes?
If the fax has contact information for the junk fax sender, send an "opt-out" request to take your fax number off the sender's list. Your request must include the fax number or numbers for your request, and must be sent to the telephone number, fax number, Web site address, or email address on the unwanted fax.
To find out more about your rights concerning junk faxes, see this fact sheet from the Federal Communications Commission: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/unwantedfaxes.html