You know, this scam probably wouldn't have been as successful if the real IRS didn't behave like a bunch of shady scam artists themselves. Twice over the years

You know, this scam probably wouldn't have been as successful if the real IRS didn't behave like a bunch of shady scam artists themselves. Twice over the years, I've been sent very intimidating letters by the IRS claiming I owe back taxes on clearly erronous assumptions by them. These have both been cleared up by submitting documentation but I've had to spend a good chunk of time in doing so. I also cannot phone them directly, I must fax reams of personal info to some random fax number with no confirmation they even received it. By the time I received the IRS letters, I typically had to respond within a matter of days or face additional penalties (what if I was on vacation). Even the most basic of cross checking my tax forms would have clearly shown everything was legit. And these were by no means unusual or complex tax situations, just very basic things that millions of Americans report on their taxes every year. But even though I knew everything was above board, the tax laws are so convoluted that I was in constant fear the IRS would still find some BS reason I owed them more money.