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Faxcaster info

Here's how fax.com gets some of their fax numbers and does some of their faxing:

• faxcaster hardware is loaned to advertising clients. Clients are supposed to install 4 or more phone lines and attach it to the computer.
• The faxcaster computers are generic PCs, with a fax.com faxcaster logo on the front (a little stick on button). The units are sealed with a security seal and there is no floppy drive. It is a one IDE drive system (4GB drive) running Windows NT. The startup of the faxcaster application is automatic upon reboot.
• faxcaster app is written in FoxPro. It is a very professional looking application.
• faxcaster software alternates between sending out ads on behalf of the client that is hosting the hardware in his home/office, and war dialing to discover new fax numbers.
• faxcaster uses and transmits back to corp HQ newly discovered fax numbers. 
• The fax.com clients have no clue that war dialing is going on and there is relatively little access to the faxcaster PC. 
• There is a file cdata/castTable.dbf which has 10,000 4 digit suffixes in pseudo random order. The order is actually carefully controlled to avoid two extensions of a business tied up at the same time (which would be yet another TCPA violation). They find a working prefix, say 571-, and then append the next 4 digit suffix from the castTable to get a number to dial. This also makes the calling pattern seem more random to someone getting called, e.g., it minimizes the chance of another "University of Washington Medical Center" problem where they basically called sequentially. 
• War-dialing is known as "casting". Sending out unsolicited faxes is known as "marketing"
• jobhistory.dbf is the file that has a record of what has been done. The fax numbers called are all in the fdata directory. They are stored in encrypted form. Let us know if you need instructions on how to crack the encryption. It's not hard. 
• adverts directory has the advertising copy that is sent out. cast.txt is a 1 byte file sent if it discovers a fax tone. This avoids the extra legal risk of sending a "fax.com permission page" (mainfax.tif) which is also in the directory but not used anymore. Therefore, new fax machine numbers can be discovered without (seeming to) violate federal law since no fax is transmitted.
• They send out about 100 successful faxes per hour, with from 25 to 50 or so non-connects within that same 1 hour period. War dialing is faster...200 connects per hour with about a 5% yield (i.e., 10 new fax numbers per hour).
• The PC is setup by fax.com and controlled by fax.com using Symantec pcANYWHERE. 
• The faxcaster checks in with fax.com mother ship periodically. If the equipment is disconnected, within 24 hours, fax.com calls the client to reconnect the equipment . 
• The client pays fax.com several hundred dollars a month to do this. You heard right... nobody is getting rich on running faxcasters for fax.com. In other words, in situations where the client is running a faxcaster, fax.com doesn't have any expense at all in sending out these junk faxes to you... they client pays fax.com and the client pays for the phone line; and since all the calls are local, it costs nothing to send a fax. All the costs are shifted onto the consumer. 
• In short, war dialing for fax numbers, permission never obtained, no phone numbers supplied by client means they are all sent without express invitation or consent in direct violation of federal law.

We have lots more information on faxcasters if you are an attorney or state attorney general, etc. Contact us via e-mail.

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