First National Collection Bureau Potentially Illegal Letter

Greetings All,

When I have a real debt, I pay it. Simple as that.

Today I got a strange letter from the First National Collection Bureau in Sparks, NV.

Some bogus AT&T account. However, in the letter is says If I do not answer within 30 days they will assume that the debt is valid.

It says this exactly....

"Unless you notify this office within 30 days after receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of this debt or any portion thereof, this office will assume the debt is valid."

This language is pretty heavy. They did not send it certified or requiring a signature at all, which one would expect over a "real" issue. To me, this is all questionable.

My question is, Is this illegal for anyone to assume that non response means, "ya, that's my debt".? What gives them or anyone the right to assume no response means they owe?

I have no idea what they are talking about and have never had an AT&T phone. I even called AT&T and gave a rep my info for a look up. I was so set on getting some answers. Obviously, I was nowhere to be found and the nice rep apologized and told me that this is called a "zombie debt collector" or something like that.

What makes this even more strange is that they offering a 40% discount on the debt with little coupons on the bottom of the page that can be cut up and submitted. Really? A discount on a bill? This is laughable.

Any ideas anyone on how to proceed? I have received no calls, just this random letter.

Ihatenonsense.