This message it is really not from the IRS.

We've all seen cruder and more laughable specimens, but this one caught my eye because it showed up minutes after a call from my wife informing me that our refund check had arrived. That the real tax man would be sending a confirmation e-mail was conceivable for the split second it took me to hop from the phony sender address -- about@irs.taxrefund.gov -- to the stilted "This message it is ..."

Inside, however, we find only the inconceivable.

"This is Francis V. from the Refund Operations Department at Internal Revenue Service (United States Department of the Treasury). After the last annual calculation of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $184.23."Bu ... bu ... but, Fran, my man, our accountant -- a fella we've trusted for years -- had calculated our refund at an amount with another digit attached. How could he have gone so far wrong? And, as noted, we've already gotten the check from Uncle Sam.

No matter, Francis V. is on a roll.