According to Baxmeyer, last April North Regent offered to sell its toll-free number to Prudential for a fee that was "just enough" to cover the costs of acquiring and publicizing a new toll-free fax number for the distributor. Another option North Regent suggested was for Prudential to give it some sort of legal protection for receiving the unsolicited confidential information, he said.

Both requests were turned down by Prudential, which instead asked North Regent to simply forward all of the faxes it received via prepaid mail, Baxmeyer said. Prudential also informed North Regent that it had sent out a memo urging doctors' offices and clinics to use extra caution when sending claims via fax.

"It's ridiculous to be sharing information that is sensitive in nature, whether it's financial or medical, by the use of faxes," Baxmeyer said. "We want Prudential to realize that their technology is out of date and [that] they are not paying attention."