How to report 1099-nec incorrectly issued to me

My former employer, a large healthcare provider that I worked for as a W-2 employee for 2+years issued a 1099-NEC with about $5,000 in compensation.  I left the job in July 2021.   I am 100% sure I'm only a W-2 employee because I received a W-2 and the amount in box 1 matched my last paycheck.  There is no way I had this compensation for additional work after I left their employment.

 

To make the matter more complicated to resolve, right after I left, they were bought out by a larger healthcare provider and all their HR / backoffice stuff got moved to their new HR department.   I was successful in reaching someone in new HR and they gave me the run around and asked I called the IRS.  I called the IRS, and they can't be reached, I called HR back and they directed me to payroll.  Got someone in payroll and they can't find any record of this 1099-NEC issued to me.   With that last result, they agreed I shouldn't had received 1099 income, but also refuse to issue a corrected 1099-NEC with $0.00 on it.  Now I'm stuck.   Do I report the 1099-NEC as $0.00?  If I do, how do I enter a statement in TurboTax to explain that the $0.00 vs. $5K so I don't get audited?  Appreciate the community's help so I can finish filing my taxes.