<prompt> Human: I received a letter that stated I owed 2,074 to a paypal new egg account that I know wasnt me. Its now in ARSs hands, and its not listed in my credit reports as a debt that I owe or even as an account I ever opened. What are my options moving forward here? I just paid a debt of 1,400 to paypal smart connect that was in the hands of Lustig Wilson and Glaser so Im in no position to pay this one too. I appreciate any help I can get  <response>: This is all assuming you are in the US:If you just received this letter, then the collector is required to give you a period of time to dispute it before they are legally allowed to report to your credit file. You need to immediately send them a letter in return asking them to validate the debt. This requires them to produce real documentation that this debt belongs to you and it also forces them to stop the collections process until they do so.If they unable to validate it, the debts goes away. If they validate it there is no time limit on how long they can take to do this, then collections resumes and you will have to report this as fraudulent and explain that it is not your account. You may need to file a police report to legitimize your claim. 