diff --git a/internal/tools/strict_args_test.go b/internal/tools/strict_args_test.go
index f858134..0b8b906 100644
--- a/internal/tools/strict_args_test.go
+++ b/internal/tools/strict_args_test.go
@@ -39,6 +39,12 @@ func TestParseArgsRejectsCaseVariantKeys(t *testing.T) {
 		"exact duplicate key":          `{"owner":"probe","repo":"t","path":"p","content":"x","message":"m","branch":"feat/y8","branch":"main"}`,
 		"case-only schema mismatch":    `{"owner":"probe","repo":"t","path":"p","content":"x","message":"m","BRANCH":"main"}`,
 		"nested object duplicate":      `{"owner":"probe","repo":"t","path":"p","content":"x","message":"m","branch":"feat/y8","extra":{"a":1,"A":2}}`,
+		// PR #66 review: a number the token scanner cannot parse as float64 must
+		// not make the scan give up and let the duplicate through.
+		"1e999 decoy before duplicate":  `{"owner":"probe","repo":"t","name":"t","path":"case8.txt","content":"x","message":"m","z":1e999,"branch":"feat/y8","Branch":"main"}`,
+		"-1e309 decoy before exact dup": `{"owner":"probe","repo":"t","path":"p","content":"x","message":"m","z":-1e309,"branch":"feat/y8","branch":"main"}`,
+		// encoding/json folds like strings.EqualFold: long s (U+017F) == s.
+		"nested long-s duplicate": `{"owner":"probe","repo":"t","path":"p","content":"x","message":"m","branch":"feat/y8","extra":{"s":1,"\u017f":2}}`,
 	}
 	for name, raw := range cases {
 		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/internal/tools/tool.go b/internal/tools/tool.go
index bf547ce..52eb640 100644
--- a/internal/tools/tool.go
+++ b/internal/tools/tool.go
@@ -45,11 +45,16 @@ func parseArgs(raw json.RawMessage, dst any) error {
 // no top-level key may differ from a field of dst only in case.
 func rejectAmbiguousKeys(raw json.RawMessage, dst any) error {
 	dec := json.NewDecoder(bytes.NewReader(raw))
+	// UseNumber: without it Token() fails on a number outside float64 range,
+	// which json.Unmarshal ignores in an unknown key — a decoy that would end
+	// the scan before the duplicate (PR #66 review).
+	dec.UseNumber()
 	if err := scanJSONValue(dec); err != nil {
 		if errors.Is(err, gitea.ErrValidation) {
 			return err
 		}
-		return nil // malformed JSON: let json.Unmarshal report it as before
+		// Fail closed: input the scanner cannot read is input it cannot vouch for.
+		return fmt.Errorf("arguments are not valid JSON: %v: %w", err, gitea.ErrValidation)
 	}
 	var top map[string]json.RawMessage
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(raw, &top); err != nil {
@@ -79,18 +84,21 @@ func scanJSONValue(dec *json.Decoder) error {
 	}
 	switch d {
 	case '{':
-		seen := map[string]string{}
+		var seen []string
 		for dec.More() {
 			kt, err := dec.Token()
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
 			k, _ := kt.(string)
-			folded := strings.ToLower(k)
-			if prev, dup := seen[folded]; dup {
-				return fmt.Errorf("duplicate argument keys %q and %q (keys must be unique ignoring case): %w", prev, k, gitea.ErrValidation)
+			// EqualFold, not ToLower: encoding/json folds the same way, so
+			// long s (U+017F) matches s and the Kelvin sign matches k.
+			for _, prev := range seen {
+				if strings.EqualFold(prev, k) {
+					return fmt.Errorf("duplicate argument keys %q and %q (keys must be unique ignoring case): %w", prev, k, gitea.ErrValidation)
+				}
 			}
-			seen[folded] = k
+			seen = append(seen, k)
 			if err := scanJSONValue(dec); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}