re: 8th circuit rules legal to seize and scan credit/debit cards during traffic stop

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At trial, United States Secret Service Agent Nicholas Wadding testified about credit card theft and identity theft. He explained that nearly all plastic cards have three tracks, or lines, of information on the magnetic strip. The first line has the account number, the second line has the credit card holder's name, and the third line, which is discretionary, may have a frequent flier number or some specific identifier.According to Peter Grimm, an American Express fraud investigator, the magnetic strip also generally contains the card's expiration date. The information contained in the magnetic strip should match the information on the front of the card. A card is said to be "re-encoded" when the magnetic strip information is rewritten. The ten American Express cards confiscated from De L'Isle's vehicle all had his name on the front of the cards with different account numbers, but the cards had no information on the magnetic strips. Grimm testified that it is significant that a card has a blank magnetic strip because that means it is counterfeit. All American Express cards are issued with account information contained in the magnetic strip. It is also significant that the magnetic strips on the Parker's PumpPal Club gas debit card, Quik Trip prepaid card, American Express gift cards, Visa debit and gift cards, Mastercard debit card, and Subway gift card all contained legitimate American Express customer account information. American Express would never encode credit card holder information on the back of these types of cards. If a gift card has been re-encoded with account information that was not originally there, it is a counterfeit card.

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