Past trips, number of bags and social networks: what data can complicate customs for those bringing goods from abroad

There Customs set up a system that allows it to predict with great accuracy which travelers are infringing the rules relating to the entry of goods purchased abroad. The method, based on information systems provided by airlines and drawing on a range of public databases, enables border detectives to identify passengers with higher risk profiles for in-depth and targeted analysis and control maneuvers. smuggling.

The system of “preliminary analysiswhich has so far shown an efficiency of 42% is not an Argentinian invention, far from it.

Since 2001, when the attacks in New York and Washington changed aviation security forever, control agencies around the world have increased collaboration and the sharing of useful information to strengthen border controls.

In particular, on the recommendation of the World Customs Organization, the IATA (International Air Transport Association) – the organization that brings together airlines from all over the world – has set up an information system in force since 2014 and which sharing for all data regulators in the world basic Above flights and the passengers. Who is traveling, what other recent trips have they taken, whether or not they are traveling alone, what luggage they are taking with them, among many other details.

Thus, as GlobeLiveMedia was able to discover, what General Directorate of Customs over the past few months, it has started to take all of this raw information and process it. As a customs source explains, four hours before a flight lands in Ezeiza, the agency already has this detailed information.

Why is it? Schemes that Customs identify as worthwhile can be used to intensify controls in specific cases and, conversely, free other passengers from excessive controls. An example is that of a traveler returning from a destination to which he flew only 24 hours earlier, who left without luggage and returned with several parcels. This case is far from being a forgery, but it certainly deserves attention.

So, as the technicians explain, in order to take advantage of this available information, it was decided to supplement the information provided by IATA with other useful databases that Customs already had access to. For example, migration records, customs file on previous breaches of customs regulations and information provided by other prosecutors – such as the case of the income declaration made by peer AFIP in Spain and which leaves in evidence who bought luxury goods and tries to enter it without declaring it – to build a multidimensional database.

Thus, with all this data in the systems, Customs can establish a criterion of risk profile which allows you to identify travelers who meet several characteristics typical of travelers who import for commercial purposes.

The risk profiles, thus posed, do not imply the detection of an offense or a crime. Rather, it is a clue indicating the likelihood of someone trying to evade customs.

The last stage of the system is the most classic, it is the intervention of the agents. This ranges from baggage screening itself to access to public data, such as profiles of instagram and others social networkswhich allow a particular traveler to be associated with a commercial activity.

In other words: by combining all these databases, Customs could come across the obvious case of a person who has traveled for a few days, whose luggage grows exponentially between departure and return, who has innumerable departure and arrival sheets from a similar country, which has committed previous violations of the franchise limits and which, for example, has two Instagram profiles, one of which sells imported thermos, clothing from brands which do not do not operate in the country, or other products usually involved in the smuggling of ants This would be too easy a case, but it is an example of what customs officers can detect.

As explained in the body, the system is not of general application. It currently has specific uses at different airports. At this time, not all flights undergo this in-depth data analysis. While the system is already well past what is considered a pilot test as it works, a full implementation is still years away.

The last clarification, which has already been made in a similar way by the head of customs, Michael Guillermo, is that as a system it is oriented to detect relevant movements and not small infractions. As the technicians behind it explain, the risk profiles applied in this way mainly detect people who evade customs controls for commercial purposes, without specifying whether a private traveler has exceeded the USD 500 deductible by a few dollars. for purchases made in the country abroad. who is allowed to enter the country without taxes.

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