Subject: Caution for when you travel to Alfred if you have a laptop.

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 28 Apr 1996 00:56:41 -0400

In a message dated 96-04-25 16:52:42 EDT, [email-masked] writes:

>Subject: Fellow Travelers with Lap Tops......
>Author:  John Gauss at HQS5
>Date:    4/23/96 10:20 PM

      I received this from a source over the Internet.  Thought folks might
 be interested and travelers beware!
>     
>    -------------------------------------------------------------------
>We've recently learned of a hustle that's being employed at airports all 
>across the country to steal laptop computers.  It involves two persons who 
>look for a victim carrying a laptop and approaching a metal detector.  They 
>position themselves in front of the unsuspecting passenger.  They stall 
>until the mark puts the laptop computer on the conveyor belt.  Then the 
>first subject moves through the metal detector easily.  The second subject 
>sets off the detector and begins a slow process of emptying pockets, 
>removing jewelry, etc.  While this is happening, the first subject takes the

>laptop as soon as it appears on the conveyor belt and moves away quickly.
> When the passenger finally gets through the metal detector, the laptop is
>gone.  The subject that picks it up heads into the gate area and disappears 
>among the crowd.  Sometimes a third subject will take a hand-off from the 
>first subject and the computer is out of the restricted area before the mark

>even knows that it is gone.
>     
>This is becoming a widely practiced problem and is happening at airports 
>everywhere.  When traveling  with a laptop computer, try to avoid lines to 
>enter a metal detector when possible.  When you can't do that, delay putting

>your luggage and laptop on the conveyor belt until you are sure that you 
>will be the next person through the metal detector.  As you  move through 
>the metal detector, keep you eyes on the conveyor belt and watch for your 
>luggage and laptop to come through as well as watching for what those in 
>front of you are picking up.  (Courtesy of the FAA)
>     
>     
>Captain Terry Bowman
>Chief, Technology Integration
>Secretary of the Air Force
>Office of Public Affairs
>