that is, I was creating a character for a one-shot

and I was asked off-the-cuff how my character would do white collar accounting crime

and without having actually heard of this crime being committed, I built a scam

I called it a "tariff reclassification scam", IRL it turns out it is just called Customs Fraud

because tariffs are often applied based on what industry a shipped object is used in, more than its material

so rather than buy it in your industry

you find the industry it is least tariffed in

ship it in labeled for that industry

huh.

sell it to a domestic wholesaler

I would not be surprised if we actually see that in the next few years

and then buy it legally from that domestic wholesaler

oh no, it's totally already a very real thing

I just didn't KNOW that when I brainstormed the racket

yeah that makes sense.

natural born criminal

yep

I was like "I'm sure this must already exist... and if it doesn't, I should go into it!"