Please do continue to revel in your innocence. Those federal agencies are grossly over worked & under funded. To the average consumer they are little more than a placebo. Knowing how to effectively deal with an abusive collection agency is a skill that takes time & diligence to acquire. A skill that it's obvious you do not have. A C.& D. letter is, by far, the most appropriate way to stop being harassed by a debt collector. That being said, it's important to know how to word that letter. If a debt is legitimate, and you send a letter ordering a debt collector to cease all communication with you, you may very well force the issue resulting in a summons. A C. & D. letter demanding that all contact is to be limited to mail is the correct one in cases of legitimate debt. If you know a debt is invalid, or bogus, a C.& D. letter demanding a stop to all contact from them to you, your employer, your family & your associates is the way to go. Sent registered, return receipt. Of course, the collector trying to collect on an invalid/bogus debt is going to use a box for an address. So that letter is going to be returned to you. Keep the return receipt. When the clown calls the next time tell him you've done so & give him a hearty belly laugh.
If you think that the gov't. is out there waiting to protect you from the predators in the fraudulent debt collection world, you've been living under a rock. You need to educate yourself & you need to understand how the real world works. A wise man once said "There's a sucker born every minute." Guess what that fellow did for a living?
Be Safe. Be Aware.
Gunnar