Fraud

Date: 4/30/2022

I was hanging out with a friend of mine when he pulled out a box of some papers. “Check this out,” he said as he handed me a piece of mail. It was a letter from the IRS, who was fining him around $6 because he apparently purchased some items from Russia that were part of an ongoing fraud investigation. I mocked the letter, “Oooh, a whopping $6, how will you afford it?” He chuckled, and we chatted more about how he bought these things because they were a good price but apparently they were stolen and the seller was a Russian with a fake identity. I walked back home down a sidewalk and stopped into a crowded Starbucks. Inside, I found a man I had met a few months ago, sitting at a small table. When I met him before, he had sold me a jar of some sort of honey and a gold necklace on the street. He snickered at me, “I stole all that stuff. I got it for free and you paid me for it!” He left in a hurry. I couldn’t believe it! Now I’ll be investigated by the IRS too! How much will they fine me for that necklace?!