Tell these people you are reporting them to the police and the Attorney General of the state in which you live.  
The so called collection tactics they are using are illegal and they will owe you before it is over if they are truly a collection agency or acting in the capacity of one.
I called our police today and our local news channel about them.  I do NOT owe a pay day loan and refuse to be bullied by idiots.
Fight back people!

You have the right to demand proof of the debt, when it occurred and who is claiming the debt.  They MUST provide you with that and in most states call not call after a certain hour and if you tell them no calls to my place of work they MUST stop.  I was advised to not open my door for anyone I do not know and to call our local police if someone shows up at my house claiming to have papers to serve me. Try doing the same yourself for your own protection.

Got a call  from this number today.  I didn't answer.  An individual left a message "about being assigned to my case" and proceeded to rattle off a bunch of big words and legal gibberish...I suppose in an attempt to intimidate me.  
The message went on to say something about check fraud and check claims, which I know I have no part in.
I am sending a cease and desist letter today to this address since I have a STRONG suspicion the two companies are one in the same.

First National Arbitration Services / Argos Alliance Group
1585 Kenmore Ave
Kenmore, New York 14217

yes I get these calls also    the voice is an african american accent, goes by miss williams, mrs bruce, today she called herself Melissa Garcia    says this is it for me Im referred back to the court call private and unknown or restricted and leave this number today; 855-869-7017   shes referring me to court cant serve me papers    for what?  for whom? If IF these people were actuals theyd have an address to physically send a paper statement, or proof of legitimate debt.  NOPE sorry I will not pay a bill I dont see and a person that doesnt reveal who or what  soo Im getting served or whatever, If indeed I owe send a bill or make an
appearance or take me to court I have saved all the notes the threats the bad words on my voicemail and cussing me out on my work messages threats to my family   its gross and its overly exagerated IF this is
what collection methods have become.

Shawn Hunter of PSD left a message that he has residence documents (???) and needed to confirm my address before he had me served. He said I had 48 hours to call him back before he is forced into further action. he gave a file number to referecne when I call back. Sounds like boiler-room tactics. Anyway we can get these dirtbags arrested for fraud? He called from 855-869-2185

So lisa what did happen? or r u the one calling and harrasing people...this company wants to make things look legal but I feel its not...I was involved in a Scam same issue..and when I caught the person on the phone lieing he never called again..Now this so Called Argos company is harrasing my husband...I need proof of the loan ORINGINAL PAPER WORK not their word for it..if it is ligit WHy wont they provided evidence to this...we got a call from 1-855-869-2161

What was the name of the company?

These people are calling me non stop saying that i owe money for a payday loan and that im going to be sued. I told them that this is wrong information and that they need to stop calling me, they still keep insisting on calling me. These people are a scam, and they are telling me to send them money and send them my personal information. The guy that called me is "KEVIN" and they called me from phone number 885-875-2514.

Received a call 2 days ago... spoke with a Jim.Ryan .....stated that i had a debt of 1,500 from some payday loan company back in 2008. Told him I didnt know what he was talking about and then he asked me about my job back in 2008.  I told him I didn't have a Payday loan and I don't do payday loans.  He got irrate and I told him to do whatever he had to do because I wasn't giving him any banking information or anything.  I asked him where was his office located so I can come talk to him in person.  He said they were located in Syracuse, New York.  I told him don't call me ever again. He said he was going to sign off on it and give it to the legal departrment.  I told him "whatever" and hung up.

This happens all the time, as Minnesota AG and consumer advocate Lori Swanson reports:

Has an unfamiliar debt collector called or written to you, or even filed a lawsuit against you, to collect money you don?t believe you owe? If so, you may be the target of a debt buyer. More and more these days, individual citizens report being pursued by debt buyers they have never heard of, sometimes for collection of money they do not owe. In some cases, the debt buyer may pursue the wrong person altogether, while in other cases the debt buyer may pursue the collection of debt that was already paid or that was in dispute (e.g. where the customer was a victim of identity theft).

What is a ?debt buyer?? In today?s economy, many creditors?including credit card companies, utilities, phone companies, banks, and lenders?regularly sell to debt buyers old debts that they have been unable to collect. The creditors package these old debts into portfolios, which they sell to debt buyers for pennies on the dollar. It is not uncommon for a debt buyer to pay less than five cents per dollar owed. The debt buyer purchases from the creditor an electronic file, or ?datastream,? of information about the portfolio of debts. The debt buyer usually does not purchase copies of individual contracts, account statements, etc. to substantiate that the individuals whose names are included in the portfolio actually owe the money.

Once the portfolio of old debt is bought, the debt buyer either aggressively pursues an individual for payment of the supposed underlying debts, or re-sells the portfolio to another debt buyer. When collecting, debt buyers often cast a wide net to find people who owe money. Some citizens report being targeted by debt buyers for debt that isn?t theirs. For example, individuals report being targeted by debt buyers for repayment of credit card bills for a credit card they never had, for utility bills at a place they never lived, for phone bills from a company they never received phone service from, etc. Others report being pursued for debt that was long-ago paid or for which they were a victim of identity theft, which had previously been reported to and resolved with the original creditor. Other people say they were pursued by a debt buyer for debt that was discharged in bankruptcy, or that is far beyond the applicable statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit in court.

The debt buying industry. The debt buying industry has seen explosive growth over the last 20 or so years. Many attribute the start of the industry to the savings and loan scandal. In the 1980?s, the government liquidator of failed savings and loans auctioned off for collection over $450 billion in failed S&L assets to the private sector. Seeing a new market niche, debt buyers thereafter began to purchase other kinds of debt as well. In 1993 an estimated $6 billion in old debt was sold to debt buyers, but by 2005, that figure spiked to $110 billion. Debt buyers are often financed in part by large national banks and Wall Street private equity funds. In other words, many of the credit card companies and banks that sell their old debt to debt buyers partially fund the debt buying industry. There are believed to be hundreds of debt buyers operating in America today, including small regional companies, but the Federal Trade Commission estimates that the nine largest companies buy 75 percent of the nation?s delinquent consumer debt. The four largest publicly-traded debt buyers reportedly purchased almost $20 billion in receivables in 2009.

What makes debt buyers different? There are several facts that make debt buyers somewhat different than original creditors in their collection efforts.

First, when purchasing a portfolio of old debt, a debt buyer generally only purchases an electronic file of information that contains names of supposed debtors, amounts owed, etc. The debt buyer usually does not purchase any documents or other evidence that shows that individual citizens owe the money, such as account statements, charge slips, etc. These electronic files are often rife with errors. For example, some citizens report that an original creditor sold debt that the citizen paid off years ago.

Second, the debt that is purchased is often very old. This debt is often called ?zombie debt? because it is so old. Some citizens report being pursued for collection efforts by a debt buyer for debt that originated ten or more years ago. To make matters worse, debt buyers often take the position that they will continue to pursue an individual citizen for payment of a debt unless and until the person can prove they don?t owe the money. Many people, however, don?t keep cancelled checks, account statements, etc. that go back that far and therefore have a hard time coming up with the proof that they paid the bill. Further, individuals are often unfairly stuck attempting to prove a negative (i.e. that they don?t owe money), when under the law a collector is not supposed to pursue a citizen for payment of a bill unless the collector has substantiation that it is owed.

Third, debt buyers are often particularly aggressive in their collection attempts. They cast a wide net to find people who may owe money, and they often pursue the wrong people. Debt buyers often run assembly line-like ?mills? and quickly turn to courts and lawsuits to collect money. It is routine for debt buyers to continue to hound individuals for debt after such individuals have stated that the debt is not owing. Since it is costly or impossible for debt buyers to actually verify a debt, they often do not do so, but instead continue with their collection efforts. Some individuals pay debts they do not owe just to get debt buyers to stop calling, or to ensure that the debt does not wrongfully end up on their credit report. Because the debt buyer has no relationship to maintain with the consumer, debt buyers may be particularly aggressive and unprofessional in their dealings with individuals.

The Reappearing Debt. It is not uncommon for a creditor to sell a debt portfolio to an initial debt buyer, who pursues collection for awhile and then sells the debt to another debt buyer, who may sell it to yet another debt buyer. In this way, some debts are bought and resold many times over for a period of many years. As a result, some citizens report that they thought they fixed a problem with a debt buyer who wrongly pursued them for money they didn?t owe, only to later be pursued by other debt buyers for the same debt.

What are your rights? Some citizens who are incorrectly pursued by a debt buyer for money they don?t owe simply ignore the collection efforts. After all, the person doesn?t owe the money, and it is unfair to ask them to spend time resolving a problem that isn?t their fault. In order to fully protect yourself, however, the Minnesota Attorney General?s Office recommends that you exercise your rights under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). If a debt buyer pursues you for money you don?t think you owe, you should dispute that you owe all or part of the debt under the FDCPA in writing. To do so, you should write to the debt buyer within 30 days after you receive an initial call or letter about the debt. Your letter?which you should send by certified mail so that you have a record of its receipt?should tell the debt buyer that you dispute that the debt is owed and ask the debt buyer to substantiate the debt. You may wish to request the following substantiation in your letter, as applicable:

(1) name and address of the original creditor;

(2) date on which the alleged debt was incurred;

(3) an itemization of the debt (e.g. total principal, interest, fees, other charges);

(4) a summary of your payment history on the debt;

(5) copy of the applicable contract giving rise to the debt;

(6) copy of the underlying account statement and other written validation and explanation of the debt.

While it takes time for you to write such a letter, it may save you time and headaches down the road--and may prevent the debt buyer from wrongly suing you, reporting the debt to a credit reporting agency, or reselling the debt to another debt buyer.

Check your credit report. If you are wrongfully pursued by a debt buyer, you should obtain a free copy of your credit report to find out whether the original creditor or the debt buyer has reported the debt to the credit reporting agencies. To obtain your free credit report, go to www.annualcreditreport.com, or call (877) 322-8228. If there are inaccuracies on your credit report, you have certain rights under federal law to correct the mistakes. (For more information, see Attorney General?s bulletin entitled, Have You Checked Your Credit Report Lately?)

If a debt buyer sues you. As noted above, debt buyers often turn to the courts to aid in their collection process. Some people who are sued by debt buyers do not recognize the name of the party who is suing them and ignore the lawsuit. It is very important that you not ignore a lawsuit. If you want to contest the debt, it is very important that you file a formal Answer to the lawsuit. The Answer is the legal document a person files to contest a lawsuit. If you do not file an Answer, the debt buyer may obtain a default judgment against you, which will harm your credit and may result in your bank accounts or wages being garnished. (For more information, see Attorney General?s bulletin entitled, Answering A Lawsuit.)

If you have questions or have been wrongfully pursued by a debt buyer, contact the following agencies:

Office of Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson
1400 Bremer Tower
445 Minnesota Street
St. Paul, MN 55101
(651) 296-3353
1-800-657-3787
TTY: (651) 297-7206
TTY: 1-800-366-4812


Minnesota Department of Commerce
85 East Seventh Place, Suite 500
Saint Paul, MN 55101
(651) 296-2488
1-800-657-3602
www.commerce.state.mn.us


http://www.ag.state.mn.us/consumer/publications/debtbuyers.asp

Received a call today on two different numbers... spoke with a Jim.Ryan .....stated that i had a debt of 1,500 from some payday loan company back in 2008 that was paid off, told him I didnt know what he was talking about and then he asked me about my job which i do not have one for a year now so i told him wrong..incorrect and turned the tables on him asking his company name.. the case number and telling him I will forward it to an attorney I know, he got quiet and hung up on me, plan on getting the address to send them a letter and reporting to the BBB in New york, that is where he said the company is based out of, they are trying to collect money on debts that have already been paid, i do believe that the original payday company had sold my info about 2 years ago to another agency that i did go to court and had it dismissed ....I would think that this is illegal the companies buying personal information and trying to make money on it!

they call and threaten legal action.  says he is an investigator for some collection agency. only thing is I do not owe anyone money, I don't even own credit cards. he actually calls from 716-362-0788 which is a new york based number

I was told the same thing today, I was called at work first by a guy who said he was to serve me papers and he told me that he had to serve me papers but if I called the toll free number and make arrangements then he will not serve them to me and that he will call back tomorrow or the next day and asked me when will I be calling the company. he told me it was for a debt, I asked him for what he told me it was for a payday loan but he doesn't know for what company then he gave me the toll free number. I called the number and spoke to a guy Joseph Kane and told hi that I was told to call this number and that I was given a case number he asked me for it and then told me that he would put me thru to the right person to help me so he then put me on hold and then came back on and said that he can actually help me and that he got up and went and got my file  I asked him for what company he said for a payday loan back in 2008 and the total was 1,000 I told I don't remember a loan for that amount and then he said a loan for that amount wa shard to forget I told him I remember a loan for like 300 nothing more that he then said maybe the loan was for 500 and they added fees, i told him i could only make payments he said that it had to be paid within 4 mos, he said he would go confirm if about the arrangements and I gave him my bank card info and verified my address he then put me on hold and told me he had a confirmation number for and to what email address did I want the confirmation sent to I told him, its been almost 4hrs and yet to see it. I called back to the number i was given and to his extension number and now i get no answer... so i then decided to look up the company and I see all these different feedbacks and now im worried that i got scammed...now i dont know what to do..any comments

I had a message on my phone asking for my ex-husband in regards to a friend of mine. So I called it back and left a message on a machine with the case number. I haven't received a call back. A Lisa called saying they have a legal notice to deliver and for either my ex-husband or my friend to call them back immediately.   I called my friend who the message was about and he has no idea. So we will see what happens.  I'm glad I looked this up to find out what everyone has to say about this so called debt collection company.

These crooks hire shills to lie online for them. One of those shills calls itself "lisa". Live and learn.

To Lisa what happened after you were served papers? Are you scheduled for court?

This place is not a joke/scam, i recieved documents from a courier today serving me a civil lawsuit. i didnt take them seriously at first either! good luck to everyone!

yes today, we have got to do something.....Those people are crazy!

they called me today. i called the girl back and she was rude. they courier called from a block number and then she called my estranged father. CRAZY

These people called me yesterday, but they had a wrong number.  They left a very deliberate and angry message for the person they were seeking.  I called back and told them they had a wrong number.  They weren't convinced but I haven't heard back from them today.

are these attorneys able to help

I have just received the same phone call that is threathening to serve me of intent of action for civil suit.  This scared me.  I called the number they referenced but all I got was a recording that their office was closed.  They represent AAG Argos Alliance One collection company.  I am being told that I am being served on Monday and the message they have left me is my notification that such order is being served.  What is really crazy is I do not have any payday loans.  I am scared and frustrated and feel harrassed.  Has anyone been served this summons?  Does anyone know what one can do to protect themselves from this type of attack?

I have received my second phone call from them today. They were requesting my social security number, but would not give me any info on who they were or what company they were calling for. Someone called saying they were coming to my home to serve me some legal documents but would not give me a name, phone number or company name. I called the number 855-869-2163 with this "file number" and spoke with Bill Joyner who was rude and hung on me when I wouldn't give him my personal info. I called back and asked him what professional company hangs up on someone for asking questions and he told me I was wasting his time. I told him he was wasting my time with this scam and that I have already filed and investigative report with the initial company they called me about a couple months ago, which was some Cash Loan place. He hung up on me again.
I googled the Payday Loan office and called them and they adviced me NOT to give out any personal info over the phone.  THIS IS A SCAM AND THEY ARE UNDER INVESTIGATION. No one is being summoned to court, and no one is going to jail. Everyone please call the initial company they are referring to and file a complaint and maybe we can get this stopped.  It's ridiculous. Do Not give them money!!!
God Bless You All

888-595-9111

These people called my parents home scaring my mom saying your daughter will be served byt 12noon and possible criminal charges dating back from 2006 from a payday loan. My mother ask what is this all about and they told her if I do not call them...my check would be garnish and my manager will be notified. I already given these people some money but after reading all these emails I pray they do not take anymore money out of my account...I left them a message we will see. I'm going to call my bank and put a stop to them collecting money from until I know who they are.

They have sent a letter to my employment wanting to verify my employment, my salary, etc.  I have the form.  I have called this number and they stated they cannot send me anything.  I asked what company they are calling about and they stated City View Cash from 2008.  I understand City View Cash is not even in business.  Is this a legal company

I received a threating call from Thomas Edwards today saying that I have a Civil Matter and the case# also that I have 24 hours to call back...... they have called at 1am and 10pm..

Can't anything be done about these people.

Decided to call back - spoke to Bill Joyner (very rude) - put me on hold a number of times(very loud music) would not tell me who I had a debt with - requested proof of the debt and he refused to send it to me, said I would be served. Obviously a scam. He got really mad and hung up when I told him I was reporting him to the police!

they called me - came up as restricted - said that is I didn't call within 24hrs it was being sent to 'legal' and that I have been 'notified'.

They called my work, coworker took message from Michael Mason to return call to 855-666-1475. Told her something about a courier & a file number. Then my daughter called to say she got a restricted call that left a message for me to call Michael, same story. THEN, they sent a fax to my work requesting employment verification with lots of questions about wages, etc.(all within 10  minutes). There's a fax number to return it to 716-242-8680.There's no company name on the fax, no details of why they are requesting it or why they have a right to know it! They won't get any response here!

I've gotten calls as late as 10:00 PM from these people. Finally talked to "Kevin" who told me it was about a payday loan from 2006. He told me I was going to be sued if I didn't pay $1600 on an $800 loan. If they call you, do NOT acknowledge any debt and tell them to stop contacting you by phone. I am still working on getting their address so I can send them a written cease and desist letter. If they call after that you can sue them under the fair debt collection act.