877-487-5563

They have called my house 3 times and twice they hung up when I answered.  The 3rd time they asked for someone with my first name but not my last and insisted I was theis person.  They said I qwed a bill from 2002 and wanted me to make arrangements.  I told them they had the wrong person and they called me a liar and then I told them they were Zombie debt collectors and I was going to report them to the Attt General in my State.  I have not heard back.

This is Merrick Bank collections

Consumer Awareness

Phone Scam Warning

Merrick Bank would like to warn consumers and our cardholders of a new scam that is currently being worked throughout the U.S. The point of the scam is to get access to the three-digit security code on the back of credit cards.

The scam works like this:
A bogus call is received from a person disguised as a bank customer service representative or VISA or MasterCard representative who may have already stolen your card number from a receipt or statement. The person calling indicates that they are calling on behalf of the bank or VISA or MasterCard. They may give you a "badge number" in an effort to sound more official. They then will attempt to engage you in a conversation. The sole purpose of which is to convince you to provide them the 3-digit number on the back of your card (known as the CVV number). For example, they may tell you they are concerned someone else is using your card or that they are willing to lower the APR on your account, and they need the CVV number in order to verify your identity and help you.

NEVER GIVE THESE NUMBERS TO ANYONE WHO CALLS YOU. Merrick Bank will not ask you for this information. In addition, VISA states that they will never ask consumers for this information. When someone gets this number together with your account number, they can use your card to make purchases.

If you receive a call like this, you are advised to just hang up. If you'd like to get more information, Merrick Bank has provided some links below that you may follow. Please note that these links are not part of the Merrick Bank web site.

http://www.nbc4.com/money/2768657/detail.html
http://www.thelocalbbb.org/alerts/alerts.html?newsid=302&newstype=1
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/call7forhelp/2748435/detail.html

They keep calling, sometimes every hour on the hour.  They never leave a message and if you call the number back it rings to someone who actually answers, but doesn't identify themselves.  I don't answer 8** numbers, but whoever these people are, they are very annoying.