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Risk of bringing plastic cards through UK customs -- you sure you want to go via London!!!
From: David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 1994 16:39:10 -0500
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 94 14:01:09 +0000 From: Ross Anderson <Ross.Anderson () cl cam ac uk> Subject: Risk of bringing plastic cards through UK customs UK customs officers have just been issued by the banking industry with magnetic card readers. The idea is that they will check suspects' plastic cards to make sure that the magnetic strip details tie up with those embossed on the card face. This is reported in a recent issue of `Banking Technology'. Not only are faults in magnetic strips fairly common, but poor maintenance of card readers has caused problems in the past. I have advised one man in the USA who is suing his bank after being arrested for altering the magnetic strip on his credit card. It turned out that he had not done this; the read head in the merchant terminal was probably misaligned, but in any case there was an alarm from the bank which the police took at face value. In the event, it took him about a year to slog through the banks' denials, get access to the card and have it tested by VISA to prove his innocence. The risk to travellers is that some defect, whether in your card or in the customs man's reader, could get you arrested for fraud. If you are not resident in the UK, the courts might well refuse bail and keep you in jail for a year or more awaiting trial. If you are lucky, the Home Office might just deport you; but even this might be serious if you have relatives or other interests here. Ross Anderson Cambridge University Computer Lab rja14 () cl cam ac uk ------------------------------
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- Risk of bringing plastic cards through UK customs -- you sure you want to go via London!!! David Farber (Mar 23)