
Ask HN: Did this customs agent attempt to plant contraband on me? - bradtx
The incident:<p>I was preparing to board a flight from DFW to China for a 2 week vacation. I scanned my boarding pass and began walking towards the skybridge to board the plane and a customs agent stepped in front of me and asked if I was carrying more than $5,000 in cash on me, to which I responded &quot;no&quot;. He then said &quot;okay, we are doing a test today, you get to help us out with this test and can tell your friends about it won&#x27;t that be cool?&quot; and had me put on a jacket which looked roughly similar to the one I had on. I thought &quot;okay, this is kinda weird but whatever I&#x27;ll help you guys out&quot;.<p>I should mention this guy had a thick Russian accent&#x2F;imperfect English, but his uniform looked legit. At no point did he mention participation was optional. He held onto my passport while I put on the jacket (over the jacket I was already wearing) and I proceeded to walk down the skybridge towards the plane, but he almost immediately stopped me and said &quot;walk slowly&quot;. At the other end of the skybridge there were about 4 - 8 TSA agents and a sniffer dog. At this point I got skeptical of the situation and started feeling around the jacket expecting to find some sort of contraband, and ended up finding a brick-shaped lump of what I am guessing was either drugs, fake drugs or cash either in the jacket pocket or sewn into the jacket itself. I held up the lump inside the jacket and looked toward the agent with a &#x27;wtf?&#x27; look on my face, to which he responded &quot;it is currency&quot;.<p>At this point I became even more skeptical, took off the jacket and returned it to the agent and asked for my passport back. I then proceeded to board the plane without the jacket and the TSA agents reacted with a big &quot;aaaahh man!&quot; as if they really wanted me to board the plane with that jacket on.<p>This was my first time flying overseas, but I&#x27;m guessing this isn&#x27;t standard procedure.<p>Has anyone experienced something similar to this? Did these guys attempt to plant drugs on me? What&#x27;s going on here?
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kstenerud
Government employees don't legitimately recruit civilians without making them
sign a mountain of paperwork and lots of tedious travel through the
bureaucracy. Anyone who asks you on the spot to do something that makes you
vulnerable, or doesn't explain its full purpose, doesn't have your best
interests at heart.

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jki275
But they do... It's well known that they'll give someone a piece of fruit to
test one of their beagles in customs.

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jki275
Sounds like they were testing the dog.

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bradtx
Why would they do that with a random traveler and not one of their own
employees, though?

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duxup
Perhaps because the dog would know the agents?

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gshdg
So get a volunteer from non-TSA employees who work at the airport in whatever
capacity and clear it with their boss? I agree that this is a bit skeevy.

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duxup
There are all sorts of alternatives. I'm just noting why they might not pick a
local staff who has interacted with the dog.

I find the story interesting, but also it seems unlikely these guys are trying
some real frame up job with a coat that their target is seen in the airport
not wearing, and the security person carrying around. If anything it sounds
like some guys goofing around.

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starpilot
The "aaaahh man!" reaction seems way too casual/jokey for a criminal setup
that could have serious consequences for everyone involved. If I realized my
scam target wasn't playing along, I'd probably nervously pretend that's
completely fine and thank them for their time (something like that).

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sloaken
I have heard that it is common for a drug dealer to put drugs on a victim, and
tell the officials. The officials then let the 'real' carrier through.

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duxup
Have you considered contacting the airport / TSA?

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bradtx
I've considered it, but I didn't think to ask for the guy's name or agent
number so I'm not sure they would be able to do anything

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lovelearning
They might have it on surveillance cameras.

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Keverw
Sounds suspicious to me. Wonder if that was legitimate within the lines of
both the law and policy. I'd be thinking they are a fake agent, trying to get
you to smuggle drugs. Then in some countries, drug charges result in the death
penalty. One country was going to just deport someone after prison, but the
Canadian government arrested a business executive, so they at random decided
to give the guy a new trial and his time its death. So instead of looking at
the individual and his crime, they factored in his country of citizenship into
his punishment.

So drugs are nothing to play with, even little traces left behind on you or
luggage could be detected. Then some countries consider drugs in your blood,
the same as smuggling. However I don't know any country that forces people to
get blood tests to enter, and if so that wouldn't be a place to vacation
anyways as too invasive.

I used to listen to a radio show about conspiracy theories, so it wouldn't
surprise me if they try to set people up to meet a quota. Haven't listened
much since he was deplatformed by big tech, but there is a theory that the
second underwear bomber was set up by the CIA thinking it was a test and he'd
be an informant. Even the CIA allowed him on the plane without a passport. I
never investigated the claims myself. I feel like this site isn't a fan of
conspiracy theories, even though conspiracy theories are interesting in a way.
There's even one about the Titanic about it being swapped for insurance fraud.
One of the captains took the ship out for a joyride and put a hole in it. So
they patched it just enough to pass inspection, so they knew it was going to
sink.

So many horror stories about the TSA and customs kinda makes you not want to
travel. Sounds like everyone is a criminal until proven innocent with these
people, even a story that was posted on HN earlier this year about people
being randomly profiled at train stations... Which I don't think considers
some people are afraid of flying or find railroads interesting, aren't in a
rush to get there as seems like a good way to force yourself to disconnect and
relax a bit, like hopping back in time. I have never been on a train outside
of theme parks, but always thought a cross country train ride would be sentic
and interesting, however they are cutting services it sounds since trains
aren't really profitable anymore. Now supposed to be more like airplane meals
than the dining cars, so maybe not as classical as it used to be. Some people
get obsessed over trains, big trucks like semis or construction equipment,
planes, etc.

I'm interested in cruise ships as a city floating on water is fascinating, and
sounds relaxing. So I joined a group about cruising on Facebook, seen a post
one day where a woman posted a story about how she was treated like a criminal
because she went on a cruise alone and they played 20 questions with her... So
I guess you must be married, have a friend, boyfriend or girlfriend to go on a
vacation and enjoy yourself... It just seems unhuman some of these stories,
profiling, and stuff. I guess we're all supposed to just stay home and be
closed-minded racists instead of exploring the world - and many people dream
of traveling the world but never do, some say when they retire... So I guess
it's normal to want to explore the world, but not normal at the same time.

Kinda feels like we're living in some sort of police state and freedom is just
an illusion, like stuff out of books and movies - think 1984. A shame compared
to what our founding fathers and military fought for, wouldn't surprise me if
they are turning in their graves how much the first, second and fourth
amendments have been attacked, watered own, reinterpreted. I even question if
police and politicians who sworn to uphold the constitution have even read it
or just raised their hand and repeated what they were told.

I'm surprised the big companies in the travel industry don't try to fix this.
It seems more about theater than actual security along with a job program. You
can go from flipping burgers one week to groping people the next week. But
maybe making people take out their laptop risking it being stolen, along with
taking off their shoes, belts, where they're pants are falling is just to
drive people to pay for pre-check. I know some airports have set up their
private security, but not sure if it's any better. Also seen some airports
have some new x-ray that could see through batteries so they might not need to
remove laptops in the future, so maybe technology can help fix this problem if
applied right.

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greendestiny_re
In my opinion, the solution to being pestered by these watchmen is to complain
in writing to the superior authority.

The complaint should include the date, time, location, a short description of
who approached you and what happened and of your emotional state at the time.

Be aware that the superior authority will inform you of receiving your
complaint and that no actions have been taken against the watchman in
question, no matter what actually happened.

