[nixcraft]

It happens everywhere, from the developed countries to the far east. You have zero rights when crossing the border at immigration control, especially when your passport is weak or they believe you will not leave the country. They log into your IG and WhatsApp and check everything. Otherwise, they will deny entry. They made it legal. Sometimes a person has nothing to hide but nerves first time traveller and gets sucked into that void too.

Do you know the worst part? Once you unlock your phone and give them your passcode, they take it away and tell you to wait. So now have no idea what they are doing with your phone. Would you trust that device? That is why a burner phone is needed, I guess.

[hakfoo]

I can recall getting a surprisingly intrusive investigation coming into Montreal as a tourist on an American passport in 2017.

Taking everything out of my luggage while I'm desperately trying to warn them that some of the socks are wrapped around a DSLR and lens I'm trying to protect from damage, fiddling through my phone camera (since there was nothing good on the new DSLR with like 40 photos of local insects). Evidently they were trying to find background evidence that my claimed objective-- visiting the Exporail museum-- was plausible. Who doesn't like trains (and it is, indeed, an excellent museum)? Fortunately, I had a photo of the Acela I took last year on my phone, and that seemed to satisfy them.

After all that, the agent chastised me because I followed my grandmother's advice and left CAD40 in the pocket of my suitcase in case I got my wallet stolen-- "It's very safe here". Is it safe here because you make random tourists feel like terrorists?

[nl]

> It happens everywhere, from the developed countries to the far east.

It can happen everywhere, but I don't think it is frequent. I travel fairly frequently and I've never had it happen to me, or seen it happen to anyone around me, or personally know anyone it has happened to.

It's true it happens, and you do read about it on the internet. But I think in every case I've read the person was already being questioned by immigration at a heightened level when it occurred.

[truemotive]

I carry two phones just in case

Nobody asks me for my second phone because nobody cares about brief interactions that distract them

It happens everywhere

from the developed countries to the far east (makes large sweeping gesture representing entire planet)

you have zero rights crossing the border at immigration control in these awful countries I am continuing to not mention for some reason.

Tell us where this happens.