Yesterday, I received a letter that appeared to come from the Department of the Treasury–The IRS. It looked very official. The envelope was addressed to properly with all the right names, as if, the sender had access to my tax return. However, something was off. The main thing that was off was the fact that it said my income tax return deposit was rejected. The fact is that I didn’t get a refund this year. Because I turned 73 this year and I had to make a withdrawal from my IRA, I had a very significant payment that I had to make. Beyond that, the IRS reached in and got that money on the day I specified.
But the letter looked VERY official, complete with QR codes and correct nomenclature for the type of notice that I would receive if, in fact, the back had rejected a deposit.
I wasn’t expecting a refund.
Here’s where A.I. helped me out. I typed the situation into Copilot. Copilot validated my suspicions and asked a few questions. The back and forth went on for a few exchanges. In the end, here is what A.I said:
Don, this seals it — your letter matches the known scam pattern almost perfectly.
Based on everything you’ve shared — especially the exact wording — your letter is not a legitimate IRS notice.
It is a phishing scam, designed to:
- Trick you into scanning the QR code
- Steal your bank information
- Potentially harvest your identity
The scammers copied the CP53E format but made a fatal mistake: they claimed a refund that never existed.
That contradiction is the definitive proof.
Final assessment
In the end, A.I. helped me out. The use of the U.S. Postal Service and the very official (and detailed) letter almost had me fooled. I would have potentially opened myself up to serious loss had I followed the instructions in the letter. Of course, a form of A.I. was probably used by the “bad guys” too. There were no obvious errors in grammar. The letter was properly formatted.
Winter Solstice is right around the corner. In fact, it is one week from today on a Sunday this year. What that means is that I can have the annual winter solstice celebration start a bit earlier. I can light the celebratory fire a little closer to the actual sundown. The solar lights I planted in the ground last year didn’t survive. I needed to replace them all and there are 40 of them. This year, I’m putting in some waterproof light pucks although; I won’t bury them so that they’re at ground level this year. I’ll put them on the ground protected by some 3D printed PETG cups. Did I mention that there were 40 of them? For a maker, doing a thing once is kinda fun. Doing something 40 times becomes work! However, putting in the extra effort and doing something right usually works out in the end.
hardy plants that do well in our Sonoran Desert. I’ll post another entry as I get closer to the actual event. Should be a great one this year!
Yesterday, I put up a couple of posts about our personality robots. I’ve always loved the idea of having robots. I remember asking Santa for a 
Also, during the pandemic, I fulfilled another dream of mine. That was the desire to have a 3D printer for my workshop. COVID 19 restrictions gave me the luxury of being able to spend time learning about how to take rolls of plastic filament and turn 
them into useful and not so useful things around 
the workshop 
and the house.
is beauty in having the machine, material, and experience to make your life a little bit better. Often, I’m up late at night on the computer and I need to put on a headset so I can hear the YouTube videos without disturbing Nancy. I always kept it in a drawer. I needed a way to avoid getting the set out a drawer, untangling the cord, and plugging it in to the USB port on the front of the tower. I decided to make a custom device that would attach to the tower.
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