If the e-mails and phone calls I've received since Friday's column are any indication, there are a lot of readers who have problems with unwanted faxes, especially those that screech their arrival in the middle of the night.

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I wrote about the problem Dave and Barbara Hinda of Coraopolis have been having since last fall with unsolicited late-night faxes. The Hindas have a combination phone and fax machine in their home that they would like to keep using.

But if the unwanted faxes keep coming, they may have to get a new home phone number and put the fax machine where it won't wake up the household. Their phone company, Verizon, isn't able to block the faxes because they are from out of state.

"Junk faxes, which tie up your line and use your ink or film cartridge and paper to deliver an unwanted ad, are like junk mail sent postage due," said Peg Albert of Point Breeze. "They infuriate me even more than telemarketers.

Mrs. Albert, who operates Matrix Communications Associates from her home, said she always looks for a toll-free opt-out phone number on the fax and calls it.

"That's important to do and it usually works," she said.

Unfortunately, it hasn't always worked for the Hindas.

Michael L. Ketner, whose company provides management consulting services to the construction industry, said he has hired a lawyer to go after anyone who persists in sending unsolicited faxes. A federal law, the Junk Fax Prevention Act, says violators can be fined $500 to $1,500 for each unwanted fax.

Jakub Sadowski, a client service analyst at Management Science Associates, said victims can find help at www.junkfaxes.org and in the spam forum at www.broadbandreports.com.

In addition to filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission toll-free at 1-888-225-5322, or going to the www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html Web site, junkfaxes.org recommends filing a complaint with the attorney general's office in the state where the sender does business.

When the Hindas asked the Pennsylvania attorney general's office for help, it forwarded their complaint to the FCC.

The junkfaxes.org site provides general advice on how to file a private lawsuit to stop junk faxes. It offers specific advice on how to file a complaint with the FCC.

One reader said she immediately sends a return fax in which she threatens legal action if the sender doesn't remove her from its list. She said that "fight fire with fire" tactic has worked for her.

Joanne Marchitello of Irwin said she was successful at stopping one unwanted fax by pressing *69 on her telephone and getting the phone number from which it was sent. She sent a fax to that number and complained.

"They apologized in a return fax," she said.

Consumers also can write to the Telephone Preference Service, c/o Direct Marketing Association, P.O. Box 9014, Farmingdale, NY 11735-9014 and ask to have their fax numbers removed from the list used by telemarketers.