US Periodicals Fraudulent Billing and scamming the elderly Mesa, Arizona

My elderly mother received fake 'past-due invoices' for Globe magazine from this company for years. They went under other names, I don't remember what now it was so long ago. I went as far as taking the bills to out local post office and showed the Postmaster. The way the invoice was worded, it made it seem as if she had already paid for some installments for her 'subscription', and the balance is past-due... when in fact no subscription existed and no payments were ever made (or magazines received by us.)

 I called Globe and was told that this company goes under a few different names, and they are NOT authorized to collect for subscriptions to Globe magazine. This all happened a very long time ago, and I had forgotten about it until I took a phone call for my mother today from a collection agency, saying that US Periodicals had turned her in for non-payment of her subscription!! And they want $115!

I called the 800 number for the collection agency and talked to the 'manager' who told me that there was a recorded phone conversation between US Periodicals and my mother, where she authorized a subscription to be started for her. I said "Yes, but she's 90 years old... I could call a nursing home and get someone to agree to pay me $1000 for an old greeting card, does that give me the right to sue them for it? No!"

This person chided me me for allowing my mother to answer her OWN phone, and told me that I should be ashamed of myself for letting that happen. He insisted that this was a legitimate company and he was a legitimate collection agent and if there was a problem with this company, WHY are they still in business? I said because there are alot of gullible elderly people in the US? And he wants ME to be ashamed?

He also insisted that there was a legal 'verbal contract' between my mother and this company, and she did indeed owe them the money. I told him that we have never received a Globe magazine from them, and we weren't paying them a cent. He said that since she gave her permission to start a subscription order, that we did indeed owe the money.

I told him that if he cared to Google the US Periodicals company he would see that there are hundreds of complaints against them, to which he replied that I should Google 'McDonalds' (he added, "since I'm such a proficient Googler") and see how many people are suing them for stupid reasons, and I shouldn't believe everything I read on the internet. Well, Mr. Manager of Argus Financial, I don't care to believe everything a collection agent tells me.

I plan on contacting whoever I need to to find out what I can do to stop this from happening... how is this even near legal?