"We are a year out from the election," Mr. Goldstein said, "and the message of this anonymous fax is, 'Let's not take ourselves so seriously.' "

But when he received, several days after the cellphone call, an anonymous three-page fax proposing a documentary for the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, he sensed that the call and the fax had come from Al Qaeda.

Little Champagne first learned it had an identity problem two years ago when an anonymous fax arrived from Bern, Mr. Girod said.

Judge Mogil is said to have sent Mr. Liotti a series of anonymous faxes and letters, bearing decals of American flags, leprechauns and Tasmanian Devil cartoons.

Wadleigh's season was rocked on Jan. 19, when the school and the P.S.A.L. office received anonymous faxes stating that 7 of Wadleigh's 10 players were ineligible.

Two weeks later, Mr. Liotti began receiving the anonymous faxes.

The fax also included an ad for the film "Wyatt Earp" and decals of the American flag and a Tasmanian Devil that had appeared on an earlier anonymous fax.

Little League officials have declined to say where the anonymous fax came from.

- From "The Cynical Screenwriters' Dictionary of Hollywood Lexicon," an anonymous fax making the rounds in Hollywood.

In addition, Federal officials disclosed today that it was an anonymous fax that tipped them off to a possible scheme by the two companies to profit in the black market in arms.