Why are agencies so reluctant to accept scanned, emailed documents - but are happy to receive faxes?

It’s much easier to tamper with email (fake headers, re-edit PDF) than it is to fake a fax.

But is it really? I can take my scanned document and email it… or I can fax it electronically. The document itself can be tampered with equally in both cases, no?

I have not encountered this. In fact. lately I’ve had the opposite experience.

Faxes are guaranteed to arrive, and are immediately physically present at the destination. Emails can be “lost” in the spamfilters.

Viruses in an e-mail.

Usually it’s because of ignorance. I had one lady tell me they couldn’t accept a scan, only a fax, because they had to have the signature on it….
So many times I’ll ask if they can email me whatever, and they’ll say…“I don’t know how to do that….”

@Dutchess_III I’ve had that exact conversation as well (about the signature), which is what leads me to believe it’s just fear of change. I agree that viruses are a good reason, except that viruses via pdf files only became possible in the last couple of years. Could be.

@ragingloli True about the filters, but if a hardcopy is going to go missing, then it can be recovered if sent as an email attachment. Not so much with a fax. One of the main reasons I hate sending faxes is that I keep picturing my fax flying out of the machine and into a waste paper basket, or being carried to the wrong person’s desk. Email means direct delivery to the person you want it to reach.

Fax uses telephone voice lines. It doesn’t involve the internet, so there isn’t any cyber-security risk. Plus older people are more comfortable with telephone technology. Fax will probably be completely obsolete in another 5–10 years.

I agree, I think it’s ignorance, and a belief that a fax can’t be tampered with.

Many government employees aren’t allowed to provide their email addresses to the public. So, if you need to send a document, you have to fax it rather than scan/attach/send.

I have that same question. A scan is MUCH closer to the original document than a scan.
Whoops. I already answered this question!