AFNI, Inc. I got a professional-looking "SETTLEMENT OFFER" from the AFNI Collection agency for an AT&T bill that I didn't owe. Bloomington Illinois

I got a very professional-looking "SETTLEMENT OFFER" from the AFNI Collection agency.  

It was for an AT&T cell phone bill.  Oddly enough, we hadn't had AT&T for about 10 years.

Since we always pay our bills, I called the toll free number to question it.  

I reached a professional-sounding automated system telling me that this office was a collection agency and calls "may be monitored."  It also asked me to hold, that all service reps were currently with other customers.  After 30 seconds, a male with a Pakistani? accent answered.  

He was able to tell me that the bill was for AT&T service provided between Sept 2003 and July 2006.  He also provided the old cell number we had used.  (It was a number we actually did use.) He even had the address where we lived back then.  

The bill he had mailed to me included the "Original Creditor Account#" from AT&T.  I was starting to worry that perhaps I did miss a bill.  I was in the military and deployed a lot during this time frame.  Could this be a legit bill?

So, I called AT&T and asked them if I had unpaid bills.  I provided all the info he requested.   He told me the Original Creditor Account Number was bogus.  

He also stated that the phone number was from a pay-as-you-go Trak phone...I knew that number was mine...but it was so long ago, that I couldn't remember who I had it with.

The AT&T billing guy also said that he could see records going back to the 1990's and that we had no unpaid bills.  

I was tempted to mess with the AFNI guy.  I thought about using the email scammer technique where they ask for you bank account number so that they can deposit $100 million from the Prince of Arabia.

But I didn't because I remembered that somewhere in the Bible it mentions that it is better not to mess with people like this.

Anyway, I won't be paying the bill or calling them back.