A possibly ill-advised move

[KickahaOta]

A scammer called me yesterday, with the usual IRS-your-tax-return-is-fraudulent-you-owe-us script.

The little cog in the back of my brain that normally regulates my supply of Good Sense slipped a few teeth, and I angrily retorted that I was a non-Fourteenth-Amendment sovereign citizen operating outside of a federal zone, and I was not going to let some corrupt stooge trick me into creating joinder with his bankrupt de jure admiralty regime.

What followed were seven of the more surreal minutes of my life, as a stranger with a thick Indian accent steadfastly insisted that he did in fact have the legal and constitutional authority to demand that I read him the codes from iTunes gift cards over the phone.

Eventually he gave up, but now I have to wonder what sort of sucker list I've probably just been put on.

[notorial dissent]

They probably have you marked as too crazy to deal with. Which all things considered could be a sure fire way of getting off the scammer list.

[LaVidaRoja]

ROTFLMAO!! I LOVE IT!!

[fortinbras]

I have no doubt that giving this guy the rough side of your tongue will work in your favor. He now knows better than to try to flim-flam you. I have been getting calls like this - always someone with a thick East Indian accent and as I get warmed up I finally start addressing him as "Gunga Din", which may not mean much to him but makes me feel good. The return number is a decoy - either it's useless (e.g., the always-jammed request line to a popular radio station) or it's somehow linked in an enormous number of relays that finally ring in New Delhi. Evidently they have an accomplice local to you who will come to your door to pick up the cash -- do not string Gunga Din along that far, his accomplice might come to your house with a gun and a bad temper.

[KickahaOta]

Good advice. This scammer seemed to be going for volume rather than big scores; rather than hitting me up for thousands, he 'only' wanted $200 for 'late return, very late.' Hence the iTunes code demand.

Which was a funny coincidence, because I did recently have occasion to see how the real IRS actually deals with this. The real IRS sent me a real form letter saying 'hey, we don't have your 2016 return, what's up with that', and I dutifully checked the boxes for 'gee, that's odd, here's another copy' and sent it back, and a few weeks later I got my very small refund check, and that was that. No gift cards or anything.