Pacific Magazine Billing Scam

 They’re at it again.....

Five years or so back there was an outfit known as the White City Scammers. They were notorious for sending magazine subscription solicitations that looked like bills. They ran into a variety of legal difficulties.  Their prices were always the "rack rate" for subscriptions, much higher than elsewhere.

Well, they or someone like them is back under the name “Pacific Magazine Billing.” If they are like the White City scammers, they will use a variety of names on their mailers.

They seem to particularly target the elderly, who may be more willing to pay what seems to be a bill without looking at it very carefully. Pacific Magazine Billing also has a poor evaluation from the Better Business Bureau. Reading the BBB file is entertaining.  There are lots of complaints, and Pacific Magazine Billing seems to respond to most by providing specious verbiage.

The AARP has a recent article on this type of scam. And the National Geographic has a long list of similar scammers.

Should you get anything that looks like this in the mail, beware!

Avoid Remington Registry

Do an Internet search for “Remington Registry” and you’ll have no difficulty finding out what kind of scam artists they are. To start, try this Facebook page.   They purport to be an impressive source of biographies.

All "Registered in the Library of Congress” means is that they sent a copy to the Library of Congress.  I have no idea what they mean by “recognized in the New York Times,” but you can be sure the NYT does not use it for reference purposes.

They also lie in their material.  Their brochure states: “As per our phone conversation....”

They never talked with me.

Given that they have a gmail address, I assume this is a small group, perhaps even one person, who has found a profitable way of preying on the gullible.  The mailing address is a house at 22 Dellaria Avenue, Southhampton, NY 11968.  Since that’s an expensive neighborhood, I assume there are lots of gullible people who fall prey to this scam.

The only happy part is that they sent me a stamped return envelope, which will save me postage writing to someone else.

White City Scammers Lose to Oregon

There is good news on the magazine scams front.  The State of Oregon recently settled their lawsuit against the White City scammers for $3,000,000.

Since four other states have outstanding lawsuits against those scoundrels, more good news may be on the way.

Texas Sues White City Scammers

The details of the Texas suit against the White City scammers are here.

New York Sues White City Scammers

The State of New York filed suit against the White City scammers in March 2015.

Wisconsin Sues the White City Scammers

Turns out Wisconsin beat Oregon in filing a suit against Laura Lovrien and the White City scammers.  There papers were filed at the end of November 2014.

Oregon Sues the White City Scammers

On 30 March 2015 the  Attorney General of Oregon filed suit against the bad guys from White City, who flood the mails with dubious subscription solicitations. The suit alleges a complicated “criminal enterprise” involving quite a variety of people and shell companies.

I wish the lawsuit well, and will keep an eye on its progress.

Newspaper Articles on the White City Scammers

Since the last time I did some investigation, the Arizona Republic did a good story on the bad guys from White City, Oregon. A woman named Laura Lovrien is one of the people behind the collection of shell names that perpetrate the scams.  She seems to get help from her sister Lydia Pugsley.

A recent article from Daily Finance notes that various states are going after her, and that the Wall Street Journal has spent an estimated $3,500,000 trying to combat such scam subscription companies.

And an April 2015 article from the Oregon newspaper Mail Tribune says that the White City scammers have cheated consumers out of $20,000,000.  

Avoid Any Mail from White City, Oregon

The folk doing business under a multitude of names from White City, Oregon, are even worse than I thought.  Recently someone posted this comment on an earlier post, which deserves more prominence:

American Preferred Readers are a scam. My 75 year old mother is being harassed daily by this company. She is being told that she has a contract and they can substantiate that by a taped recording of her and if she doesn't pay she will sent to a collection agency. This has been very stressful for her. Unfortunately, She has paid them almost $400.00 thinking they would finally leave her alone before our family found out about this situation. Despicable!

They operate under dozens of names.  Here is only a partial list, courtesy of The Nation:

1. Billing Services Association
2. Billing Services of America
3. Circulation Billing Center
4. Circulation Billing Services
5. Magazine Billing Services
6. Magazine Billing Network
7. Magazine Billing Services
8. Magazine Distribution Services
9. National Magazine Services
10. National Magazine Subscriptions
11. Orbital Publishing Group
12. Periodical Billing Services
13. Publishers Billing Association
14. Publishers Billing Center
15. Publishers Billing Exchange
16. Publishers Payment Processing, Inc.
17. Publishers Subscription Services
18. Readers Billing Network
19. Readers Billing Services
20. Readers Payment Center
21. Readers Payment Services
22. United Publishers Services

Avoid anything having to do with magazine subscription offers that come from White City, Oregon.

Avoid Circulation Billing Services (II)

The hydra-headed folk in White City, Oregon, continue to send out fraudulent magazine subscription solicitations under every-changing names.

The latest I got was from “Circulation Billing Services,” offering a subscription to the Readers Digest at their usually exorbitant rates.   It’s the second one I’ve had with that name of late.

As always, ignore anything coming to you from one of the many names used by these scammers  in White City, Oregon.

Publishers Distribution Services Scams Again

Those incorrigible scammers, the scoundrels with almost a thousand names, are at at again, this time offering me a subscription to a magazine for $59.95, as always “the lowest available rate we can offer.”   As always, their mailing is intended to look like a bill to a careless recipient.

This time, they are “Publishers Distribution Services.” Going to the website for the magazine, I find the standard subscription is $29.95.

Although they go by many names, the mailing address always seems to be White City, Oregon.  Never subscribe to anything through them.

Beware of Ciprian Pahoni

I recently fell afoul of a clever scam that involved wiring money to one Ciprian Pahoni.  Should you have any dealings with a person by that name, be very, very dubious. Further details here.

Avoid Publishers Billing Center

The hydra-headed scoundrels in Oregon who send out mailings intended to look like bills now offer me a subscription to Forbes at significantly greater cost than Forbes charges  me.  This time, the name is “Publishers Billing Center.”  They use dozens of various names.

As I’ve said before, avoid anything asking you to subscribe to something with an address in White City, Oregon.

Avoid Circulation Billing Services

The whack-a-mole scammers in Oregon who offer overpriced magazine subscriptions in mailings designed to look like bills are still at it.  Today I got one from “Circulation Billing Services.”

They probably use at least two-dozen names, all using the same phone number (707-266-6673) and the same Oregon mailing address.

What they are doing is legal — just unethical.  Avoid them, and anything that asks you to pay through publisherspayment.com.

Avoid Publishers Payment

“United Publishers Exchange” or “unitedpubex.com” used to be the schlocky payment service for Associated Publishers Network and its dozens of misleadingly named aliases.  See my earlier posts for more details.

Bad publicity seems to have forced them to a new name.  They now use “Publishers Payment,” which continues to offer outrageously priced magazine subscriptions.  Reputable magazine publishers regularly warn against such operations.

Avoid any offer that asks you to pay through “publisherspayment.com”

Avoid Publishers Distribution Services

Well, “Publishers Distribution Services” kindly offers me a subscription to the Wall Street Journal at $599.95 a year.  That is six times what I currently pay (the education rate).  It is “one of our lowest rates.”  I’d hate to see one of their highest rates.

Avoid these scoundrels.  They operate under dozens of names and hope to deceive people — and they often succeed.

Avoid American Preferred Reader Services

I just got a call from “American Preferred Reader Services.”  When I said that I had no business relationship with them and that they were in violation, the reply was that I had ordered something from them.  I asked what.  “I can’t tell you that, since I work in marketing.” Indeed.

They call from Florida with numbers like this: 954-767-XXXX. The Better Business Bureau has a file on them.

Avoid them.

Avoid Publishers Billing Center

Over a year back I wrote about the Associated Publishers Network.  As you can see from the entry below, lots of unhappy people found the post.

Now they are doing business as “Publishers Billing Center” with a mailing address in White City, Oregon.  The forms look the same — just the name has changed.

Again, their prices are high, sometimes outrageously high, and they hope that careless recipients will think it’s a bill and send a check.

Avoid them.  They also don’t know grammar, since the grammatical form would be “Publishers’ Billing Center.”

They do business under a variety of other names, changing as each becomes too notorious.  Here is a typical one, designed to look like a bill (although if you read carefully, they note it isn’t.

The Nation, one of many magazines afflicted by this scammer, provides a list of other names they use:

• Billing Services Association
• Billing Services of America
• Circulation Billing Center
• Circulation Billing Services
• Magazine Billing Services
• Magazine Billing Network
• Magazine Billing Services
• Magazine Distribution Services
• National Magazine Services
• National Magazine Subscriptions
• Orbital Publishing Group
• Periodical Billing Services
• Publishers Billing Association
• Publishers Billing Center
• Publishers Billing Exchange
• Publishers Payment Processing, Inc.
• Publishers Subscription Services
• Readers Billing Network
• Readers Billing Services
• Readers Payment Center
• Readers Payment Services
• United Publishers Services

If you get an mailing from a different name, let me know.  I’m keeping track of these scoundrels.

Avoid Associated Publishers Network

Although my main interest is obnoxious logos, I occasionally note obnoxious scams.

I recently got an offer to subscribe to Forbes from “Associated Publishers Network” in Henderson, NV.  The “best” rate they offered was $129.95, far more than Forbes’ regular rate.

These sorts of operations have no connection to the magazines themselves and send out offers to whatever mailing lists they can purchase.

Their credit card processor is “unitedpubex.com.”  Avoid anything that requires paying through them as well.