The guys over at i-hacked have written an article about opening a lock by using only a picture of the key for it. Pretty interesting idea and it makes sense logically, I might have to try this in the near future, it could come in handy on simple locks if you don’t have a set up bump keys around. See the article here Duplicating A Key From Only A Picture
For the more curious types of people, there has always been the want to find out what kind of data is hidden on those mag stripes on the back of your drivers license, credit cards, and other ID cards. I’ve been dabbling in magstripe gear for a couple of years now and it’s really astonishing the kind of info they will put onto a college ID card. What do you need to read magstripe cards? Only a card reader and some free open source software. You can even make a reader if you want to save money! Once you’ve got a reader and the software, it’s really easy to use. Depending on which reader you have, you either have to run StripSnoop in character mode (if your reader connects through your keyboard port) or just run...
Next up were the alcohol tests. I used 91% rubbing alcohol, very cheap at wal-mart. I soaked each check for 10 minutes in the acetone. The first check was with the Pentel RSVP pen. This was the second best check out of the bunch. Not only had the ink just about disappeared, but the back of the check was perfect. There is only one downside. That red dye I was talking about earlier really showed up this time. There were also a couple red spots on the front of the check. Not to apparent, but they are right by the “Pay to the order of” part. Second check was with the Pilot G2 Gel pen. Not a very good job, this ink just wanted to stay on there and smear. There is a prominent red dot in the middle of the check as well....
This was a very cool test to see the likely hood of my checks being washed, I don’t use checks often and I probably never will after this The best results with the inks tested were with alcohol. Even though I didn’t try with regular acetone, the nail polish really killed the back of the checks whereas the alcohol didn’t do anything to the backs. I’ve heard of some people putting tape over the signatures, but I did not even try. I figured it’d be more of a pain trying to get the tape to either stay on or take off than to just forge a signature. It looks as if you use gel ink pens, there is a really tough chance of anyone washing your checks. They seem to be a good ink to use against common chemicals. Remember...
Since I posted about check washing, I’ve had some people ask about how to determine the polarity of the inks that you’re using and the polarity of the solvent. Unless you remember from high school chemistry (or work in a chem related field), you probably don’t know how to tell. I won’t put up a whole chemistry lesson, since all this can be found in any chemistry textbook or online. The acetone in the check washing experiment is a non-polar liquid and dissolves non-polar solutes. So our ink would need to be non-polar. The only way to tell this is to just go and test different inks. The Pilot G2 Gel pen would probably be considered non-polar. Gasoline is also a non-polar liquid. An example of a polar solvent...
The first tests I did were with the nail polish remover, whose main ingredient is acetone. I soaked each check for 10 minutes in the acetone. The first check was with the Pentel RSVP pen. As you can see, I think you’d have a tough time cashing that. Not exactly good results and not to mention that the entire back of the check had turned completely white! All the security stuff was gone, even the line to sign your name! Second check was with the Pilot G2 Gel pen. This did a pretty damn fine job. No markings on the front that are totally obvious of washing, I think if I had left it in longer, it might have gotten rid of more of the ink. However, again, the back was completely white, so that isn’t going to work. I...
When someone on the forums posted about check washing, I knew it was something I had to try. The term has been around for a while but there are less than half a million hits when you search on google for it. The process is actually extremely simple and anyone can do it. What is check washing? It is simply the process of washing the check in order to get rid of any writing on it to (usually) change the payee and amount. Understanding why check washing works requries some chemistry knowledge. You first need to know the polarity of the ink that the check is written in. You need to match the polarity of the ink with teh solvent. Unless you have some education in chemistry, you probably won’t know how to figure out the...
