In fact, there is a whole class of travellers in some parts of the world now called runners who do this
No problem - you have a paper trail showing where you got it, that you were unaware of what was in it, and that you were not allowed to inspect it.
Anecdotally, I once had an outrageously difficult time explaining to a German customs officer that the bag I placed in the scanner had items belonging to both my sister and myself. It didn't help that we were travelling together, and she was also there to back my statements up. He simply would not accept the fact that there was an electronic device (e-book) that belonged to her, in a bag that belonged to me, which we forgot to take out before the scanner.
Yes. They also won't try to 'interpret' their own country's laws, it's above their paygrade. If you aren't doing exactly what they expect, they will hold you (or your passport) and push the issue upstairs.
Source: I had this happen to me when I tried to enter Canada to work on a contract for which I should have had a work permit. My company had given me the paperwork appropriate for a salesperson or conference attendee. The officer at the gate confiscated my passport, told me to come back the next day with the correct paperwork, and threatened me with arrest if I failed to return. Stress and long nights ensued.
By the way, this service for travel between countries. So people who want things from the US, Dubai or other large shopping destinations and when it is the reverse direction, where people in the large countries want things from back home countries like certain foods, ornaments etc, then they have to give the runner the money and the runner makes the purchase.
Not doing it would be reckless of course.
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2013/11/22/2...
https://www.vice.com/en/article/now-you-can-pay-people-to-fe...
> At first, AirWayBill’s managing director, Khaled Sehly, declined to discuss whether the app could be breaking any TSA regulations, asking to go off the record. (I refused.) He then asked me to wait four weeks until they had real users, saying that the reviews left on the app were actually from peers rather than customers. In our next series of broken calls, Sehly directed me towards the app’s terms and conditions and privacy policy, which he says were designed by a reputable law firm. Section 8 of the terms and conditions states that users must comply with technical and legal obligations and restrictions, including customs rules. However, it also indemnifies AirWayBill for liability related to shipments, stating that “any request will be made or accepted at the Members’ own risk” and that unless it’s explicitly specified otherwise within the platform, “AirWayBill’s responsibilities are limited to the correct functioning of the app and its service to the interested parties.”
> Unfortunately for wary couriers, AirWayBill is not planning on running background checks on anybody using their services. Sehly says that delivering packages for strangers—or at least friends of friends—is something that he’s seen done in an unregulated way in the Middle East and parts of Europe, with people asking if someone could deliver items ranging from documents to baby food to their families. Still, the possibility of inadvertently smuggling who knows what still remains. “We always urge people not to carry anything that they are not super confident about,” Sehly says, pointing out that deliverers can inspect the items they plan on transporting.
So the company is obviously taking the caveat emptor aka “f around find out” approach. Drug smugglers already have a lot of skill hiding drugs in seemingly innocuous items (sewn into teddy bears, etc.), so it is not at all an “aggressive assumption” to think being a courier with this service has potentially life changing (i.e. incarceration) risks.
Not talking about the even more life changing risk of involuntarily smuggling a bomb on the very aircraft you yourself are flying on.
We need to start arresting people for this. You can't sell a product with fake testimonials. If you're not selling anything, lie to your hearts content. But this is fraud.
https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2024/08/well-pay-...
https://www.nfib.com/content/legal-blog/marketing/what-the-f...
Here's one - Milwaukee Packout is majority red in the USA but mostly black (people call it "Blackout") elsewhere in the world. If you have luggage allowance, buy some and bring it back to the USA and it'll sell decently.
Doing that today would likely get people arrested for drug trafficking