Merlin U740 USB 2.0 camera not working
Ubuntu thinks it is the modem. Try to blacklist option driver. The uvcvideo should be loaded automatically in this case on the next boot.
Just a follow up to linuxbuild's answer...
For this particular camera, which I also own, on LinuxMint 18.3, I added the following to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-modem.conf, and it worked after reboot:
blacklist usb_wwan
install usb_wwan /bin/false
Likely the last line is the only one needed, but I was working my way down the "how to blacklist drivers" thread, and that is when it worked.