Well, another day, four more calls. Today it's from:

562-288-7167

Yesterday it was three calls from the same number. The day before it was a call from an old standby:

626-259-5575

I only had one call from that number over the weekend. It's good to know that even phone harassers and mock-collection agencies need to take a break to rest at the week's end! Go figure, all the numbers are still from California... something is more than a little fishy about this.

Today I uncovered a very interesting article from consumeraffairs.com which sheds some light on the Luebke Baker and Associates mystery. Here are some interesting bits from the article:

In 2003, the FTC essentially closed the door on Consolidated Media Services (CMS) and the network of companies under the Cross Media Marketing name after they settled for $350,000 and agreed to end the myriad of alleged deceptive sales tactics they were accused of.

Although CMS appears to have dissolved, consumers write that a collection agency -- Luebke Baker and Associates of Peoria, Ill. -- has been trying to collect on CMS debts, some as old as 11 years.

Interesting -- so a company is shut down because of deceptive sales practices, yet their debt garnered from those deceptive sales is ripe for the taking?

Don Cummings, Luebke Baker's senior legal administrator, said the debts are real.

"I don't think it's a matter of people saying 'I never heard of it.' I think it's a matter of whether they forgot," Cummings said. "Three years ago, five years ago they ordered these magazines."

ConsumerAffairs.com has received 51 specific complaints regarding Luebke Baker and close to 400 CMS complaints, many of which include Luebke Baker. The Better Business Bureau has received 84 complaints in the past 36 months, of which most have been resolved, according to the BBB's website. The Illinois Attorney General office has received 48 complaints since 2000, of which most have been resolved through the company dropping the charges, said spokeswoman Natalie Bauer.

A bit of peace of mind for those of you who are worried about your credit scores:

If a consumer challenges the debt and refuses to pay, the debt goes back to the client. Luebke Baker then asks the client to provide a recording or documented proof of the debt, Cummings said.

Luebke Baker does not report any magazine-related debts to credit bureaus, Cummings said.

So they aren't going to report you to the credit bureau; I wonder why? Could it possibly be that Luebke Baker and Associates has very little information, yet is trying to scare consumers into paying an unverified debt?

So, another day, another set of harassing calls. This time the number was:

408-587-2192

If you're starting to notice a theme here, you're not the only one. All five of the various numbers that have called me are from California. What gives? I thought Luebke Baker and Associates was just a peaceful little Peoria, IL debt collection agency - at least, that's what one of their "associates" told me.

The various numbers do put an interesting spin on things -- they've got me thinking. Where is Luebke Baker and Associates finding their solicitors? Why might Luebke Baker and Associates be interested in trying so hard to make sure their calls are from a variety of areas codes from unknown numbers? Is there something Luebke Baker and Associates doesn't want us to know about their harassment scheme?

My initial guess is that the callers are hired through advertisements that promote positions which "Pay hundreds of dollars a week just for sitting at home!" I'm going to get to the bottom of this, we'll just see if my hypothesis prevails.

There are three important steps in fighting abusive debt collectors:

1. Send the debt collector a letter stating the collector's liability under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692, and requesting written contact outlining the claimed debt liability of the consumer.

2. Contact your state's attorney general via his or her website and submit a consumer complaint.

3. Contact the Federal Trade Commission.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was established in 1978 to promote fair debt collection and to provide consumers with an avenue for disputing and obtaining validation of debt information in order to ensure the information's accuracy. Per the act:

"There is abundant evidence of the use of abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices by many debt collectors. Abusive debt collection practices contribute to the number of personal bankruptcies, to marital instability, to the loss of jobs, and to invasions of individual privacy."

The act provides key tools that private citizens may use to verify legitimate debt collectors and fight scam artists. Specific features prohibit debt collectors from:

* Contacting consumers by telephone outside of the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time

* Contacting consumers in any way (other than litigation) after receiving written notice that said consumer wishes no further contact or refuses to pay the alleged debt, with certain exceptions, including advising that collection efforts are being terminated or that the collector intends to file a lawsuit or pursue other remedies where permitted

* Causing a telephone to ring or engaging any person in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number

* Contacting the consumer or the pursuing collection efforts by the debt collector after receipt of a consumer's written request for verification of a debt (or for the name and address of the original creditor on a debt) and before the debt collector mails the consumer the requested verification or original creditor's name and address

* Misrepresentation or deceit: misrepresenting the debt or using deception to collect the debt, including a debt collector's misrepresentation that he or she is an attorney or law enforcement officer

Per the Federal Trade Commission website:

Debt collectors may not engage in unfair practices when they try to collect a debt. For example, collectors may not:

- Collect any amount greater than your debt, unless your state law permits such a charge;
- Deposit a post-dated check prematurely;
- Use deception to make you accept collect calls or pay for telegrams;
- Take or threaten to take your property unless this can be done legally; or
- Contact you by postcard.

The full act contains many other features, these are just highlights. However, it is important to note that debt collectors are required to stop contacting consumers upon receiving a written request of verification of debts. Furthermore, for each consumer that falls victim to any violations of the act, the violator may be liable for up to $1,000 in damages.

I'm going to post a form letter soon that you may be free to fill in with your own information and send to companies like Luebke Baker & Associates in order to show them that you refuse to be a victim to their harassment.

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!

These posts are intended to provide you with information to help you fight unethical telephone solicitors who are interested in profiting at the expense of others.  I hope you find the information here useful!