Unwanted calls from fax machines

[Alec]

I'm receiving frequent voice messages that consist of the beeping sounds typically heard when a fax is being sent. It's becoming very frustrating. Unfortunately, these calls don't display a phone number, so I'm unable to block them. Is there any way to stop these calls from coming through?

[WelshTerrier]

Good Day & Welcome to the Bell Community Forum.

Unfortunately, there is no 100% foolproof method of stopping all of these calls.

Bell introduced a new feature last week, Suspicious Call Detection. Suspicious call detection uses AI analytics to monitor incoming calls in real time, and it alerts you about potential spam or fraud, allowing you to decide whether to answer incoming calls by labelling the suspicious ones. It is automatically available for all Bell Mobility customers at no extra charge and cannot be turned off.

Suspicious Call Detection - Bell

You can also  "Silence Unknown Callers" in your mobile device Phone settings.

Samsung / Android

• Open the Phone app and go to ⋮ > Settings > Blocked numbers. Tap the toggle switch next to "Unknown" or "Block calls from unknown numbers."
• To block a specific number in the stock Android phone app, tap the number in your recent calls, and then tap "Block/Report Spam."
• To block a specific number on Samsung, go to ⋮ > Settings > Blocked calls, enter the number, and then tap "+."

How to block certain incoming calls on your Galaxy phone

Apple / iPhone

With iOS 13 and later, you can turn on Silence Unknown Callers to avoid getting calls from people you don’t know. This blocks phone numbers that you've never been in contact with and don’t have saved in your contacts list. If you’ve previously texted with someone using their phone number or if a person has shared their phone number with you in an email, a phone call from that number will go through.

To turn on Silence Unknown Callers, go to Settings > Phone, then scroll down, tap Silence Unknown Callers, and turn on the feature. Calls from unknown numbers are silenced and sent to your voicemail, and appear in your recent calls list.

Detect and block spam phone calls - Apple Support (CA)

Incoming calls will come through from people that are saved in your contacts list, recent calls list, and from Siri Suggestions to let you know who’s calling based on phone numbers included in your emails or text messages.

If an emergency call is placed, Silence Unknown Callers will be temporarily disabled for the next 24 hours to allow for your iPhone to be reached.

Before you turn on Silence Unknown Callers, make sure you have important contacts saved or you could miss a phone call that you don’t want to miss. The call will still go to voicemail and appear in your recent calls list, but you won’t get a notification while the call is ringing.

Take care.

[Alec]

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, it wasn’t helpful, as I realized I left out an important detail: I don’t actually hear the calls—they are completely silent. I only become aware of them after a voicemail with the fax beeping sound is left in my mailbox. Additionally, these calls do not appear in my call log under "Recents," so I’m unable to block them as no number is listed. I would appreciate your advice on how to address this issue. Thank you.

[dks · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your question. As has been said, there is no way of completely stopping these calls. They can often occur when a wrong number has been programmed into a sending fax auto dialer. In the past I have had confidential financial and medical information sent to my own fax machine, causing a huge privacy investigation by the sending institution. If no number is listed, the caller is an auto dial robot from a scammer and can't be blocked as you discovered.