I've received calls on my cell phone three or four times a day from various numbers over the past two weeks. As I'm sure they would any person, these calls were starting to annoy me. So, being the diligent anal-retentive person that I am, I began to do a little research. I searched the web for the numbers that had been calling:

213-363-5150
760-526-8174
562-288-7163
714-607-5742

Lo and behold, I eventually figured out all the numbers trace their way to one source: Luebke Baker and Associates.

Luebke Baker and Associates is apparently a mock-collections company. Their scam is fairly simple: they tell the phone call recipient that he or she was sent to collections for a magazine subscription he or she had usually ten years prior. In some cases, the phone call recipient may have had a subscription, in some cases he or she may have not. In most cases, however, the phone call victim was certainly NOT sent to collections nor past due on any payments.

The Luebke Baker and Associates "representative" then proceeds to tell the phone call victim that, if he or she wants to avoid bad marks on his or her credit report, the victim must pay Luebke Baker and Associates a set dollar amount, usually so kindly lowered from the purported amount owed - because, of course, Luebke Baker and Associates are here to help you!

When prompted for information, the "representative" will normally say they must withhold everything until they have personal information from the phone call victim.

I've read about many cases of phone call recipients falling victim to this scheme. Upon a quick search, it would seem that Luebke Baker and Associates has been sued in federal court at least nine times in the past three years for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Act.

Here is the company contact information:

Luebke Baker & Associates
P.O. Box 9398
Peoria, IL 61612

More information soon on how to fight this!