Debt Collection Agency

I received a letter from a debt collection agency. It says I owe some $1000+ to someone some time in 2000. The company to whom I supposedly owe this money is listed. The funny thing is, I was nowhere near that city, not even the state, when the debt allegedly occurred. Now, being a generally good citizen and a well-raised Taiwanese boy, I thought I should dispute this in good faith and also to clear things up for everyone's benefit. But the letter goes one step further to scare me into complying with it -- it says that the agency will assume this debt is valid if I do not dispute it within 30 days. Now it is one of those rare times when you think to yourself, hey, it's not bad to have access to free attorney advice. I was told by my in-house lawyer that, no, they can't just assume such and such. They don't even have proof that I received the letter. His advice? Ignore it unless it shows up on my credit report.

Well, it doesn't. So I am ignoring it. But this action goes completely against what I instinctively would have done. Someone should sue this company. I could have been scammed into paying this if I was an 80-year old bat not knowing any better!!!