THEY CALL PEOPLE WHO DONT OWE A DAMN THING.HOW DARE YOU ASSUME THAT THEY ARE CALLING US BECAUSE WE DONT PAY OUR DEBTS!!!!!!!!!! THEY ARE A SCAM COMPANY..REFUSED TO TELL US WHAT THE "BILL" WAS.BUT WANTED OUR CREDIT CARD AND PERSONAL INFO..SO SHUT UP

Called asking for me by name. Wanted to verify it was me by giving him my birthdate. He would not tell me who he was at first. He would not tell me the nature of his call. he refused to give me any information whatsoever. He told me that I would "Pay the price" if I did not give him the information. Generally, all-in-all he was a real a*shole. He said his name was Justin from OSI. He said that he had talked to me in the past and that if I were John that I would remember him. When I finish my research on this number I am going to remove his testicles with a spoon.

I am from Central Florida and the HBS charge was made to my debit card, so this scam is still very active and on-going. Heading to bank now to cancel card.

I don't know who it is but I received a call from a similar number for the last two days. The number was and they asked for me. I told them that I was not here. They said that (*****)my aunt had used me as a reference. And then asked a better time to reach me.

They call like 2 times a day. No messages. Never give personal information to anyone over the phone. These freaking companies they act all professional trying to suck info out of you. very disturbing. :(

I check my bank account online quite often and found an odd charge for $9.40 from HBS. For the past few days my family has been receiving strange phone calls between 1:30-3:00 AM, but no one ever leaves a message. I barely use my debit card, and I have no loans, credit cards, bills, or subscriptions of any sort. I've never heard of HBS, and I found this page and others while searching for it. I called my bank right away, but they did not treat the matter very seriously and insisted that I had made some sort of error. I had to visit the manager in person to cancel my debit card. I filed a dispute, was reimbursed the money for a short time, but the bank later decided to take the money away with no explanation. I'm quite fed up with everything. I can't imagine what it would have been like if a larger amount of money had gone missing.

This call is from Pioneer Credit Recovery, a collection agency owned by Sallie Mae. Their callers flirt with the boundries of legality, particularly when it comes do disclosing required information (amount of debt owed, etc.). Also, they have represented themselves as "calling on behalf of the Federal Government", which they are most certainly not. You are obligated to pay your debts. Work directly with your creditor, not with collection agencies.

I have the same charge ($9.40)on my credit card dated 05/04/08. I am in the process of disputing it now. It is a lot to do because someone is trying to run a scam. It shows company name as HBS and phone 1-888-218-5608. Not a real number though. This is unbeliveable!!!!!!!!!

call back & find out or are you chicken???

Automated Computer Call System left massages on daily bases, Merchants Credit Guide buys the old credit card debts from non-collectable list for a penny on the dollar and using terrorist tactics to extort money on the expired statue of limitations debt illegally.

Thanks for the tip. It was really helpful....NOT.

Just be glad that bill collectors are "necessary", otherwise you would be working at Burger King right now.

Collection agencies can not drain bank accounts, that is against the law. They can only debit pre-authorized amounts by either the debtor or the client. What is so wrong with paying your bills in the first place? Bill collectors would be completely unnecessary if you dead beats would pay your bills.

Appears to be some kind of financial aid or a response to information that I inadvertently had questioned online concerning a college. They had called me a couple of times, and when I finally did answer it, they were going on about some college. I told them I am not interested. They may be affiliated with number. They may be a telemarketer that deals explicitly with several companies and organizations.

I have recieved 12 per day in the last 3 days from this, I think it may be Merrick Bank but not sure, what do you do when they won't stop calling and don't leave a message so you will know who to call back, because I am not calling someone, when I don't know if it is legiate or not.

If it's in regard to student loans, you don't have to deal with them. You can call the Department of Education and deal with the government directly. Keep in mind, like anything involving the federal government, it can be a tasking experience. However, they don't use the illegal tactics utilized by Premier and won't treat you like crap.

According to Jeffrey, it's 'imperative' that I call him right away. Wow, professional.

I received several calls from this number and they always hang up when I answer. Today, someone was finally on the line, asking if I was interested in switching my telephone service. He asked if I was still with Verizon (I was never with this company) and when I (stupidly) answered and gave him my actual provider, he said thank you and hung up.

Received call saying they had talked to my husband regarding Indiana taxes owed & wanted to know when I was sending the money. When I said I needed more information, they wanted a SS# and I refused, then they hung up.

I got an urgent call from my sister that this man needed to speak with me, keep in mind that my sister recently changed her number and it is unlisted. I returned the call, he said he was calling from a law office to collect on an old bill. Yes, it is mine, Paul was very nice and said he would work with the payments I was proposing, he asked me to hold. A gruff man named Gabe Hoffman got on the line and proceeded to try intimidation tactics to get me to pay the entire bill -TODAY! He was very irate and threatening-Im not going to deal with this company in that manner, I hung up.

I received a call today from this number from a person looking for my wife that had called me from 1 on. Guy had an attitude and didnt say who he was with either. I never answered the phone, let voice mail get it because ID showed Unknown.

I keep getting calls on my cell phone from them. Three calls just this morning. They leave a message saying they are with discover card. I dont have a discover card. I just ignore the calls but it gets annoying.

stop calling everyday around 7 am

yes I got a call from them this morning as well at 7:30am. They call me morning, noon and night, and the person they are asking for is not even ME!! I dont know what to do.

I also have been receiving multiple calls daily from this number. The thing is, I actually do have an auto loan through Capital One, but the payments are current and calls were being placed to me before payments were due. The man on the phone tried to get me to make a payment by phone, but I told him that I would not be and suspected that this may be an attempt at identity theft. He stuttered a bit, said something about the next payment due in April, then hung up.

They are Merchants Credit Guide Co. If you want the calls to stop, here is the address to write to them: 223 West Jackson Blvd, Suite 900 Chicago, IL 60606 I know that the number belongs to them as well.

abusive call from some woman at this number, who then hangs up.

Same as all the rest - showed up as 9.45 on bank statement.  Leaving for vacation tomorrow.  More crap I shouldn't have to deal with.  Please tell everyone you know to always check their bank statements.

I got charged $9.40 on my debit card account on 6/25/08 from POS# 151115 *POS* 8882185608 CA HBS 1902 WRIGHT PL, 2FL. I just noticed it today and tomorrow I am cancelling my card. If there are so many people that are having the same problem with these scammers, why is there nothing that we can do to solve this problem and prevent them from stealing our hard earned money?

Calls at all hours of the night.. Really annoying.

Exactly the same thing happened to me as the rest of these victims. Wells Fargo's (WF) fraud dept. contacted me about some recent charges and I didn't recognize "HBS 888-218-5608 for the amount of $9.45". WF said they will investigate the charge as a fraud. I had to cancel our cards and new cards were issued. I'm figuring that this hacker thought the charge for less than $10.00 would slide under the radar. If enough people complain hopefully these people will get caught.

PS. WF identified HBS as an advertising Co.?