Is this for real or am I falling for some sort of joke?

I think you followed some poor advice, particularly if your actual response was "I am compensated in accordance with the market rate..." If you said something like that to me, I'd say thank you. Good bye.

If you want to play games like that, better to just get a good job at a salary you can negotiate and then head out on interviews with that line. Who knows. You might get lucky.