Federal prosecutors have charged an Atlanta resident with destroying evidence after he allegedly provided U.S. border agents with a passcode that wiped his phone’s contents — the first known case in the United States involving criminal charges over the use of a so-called duress password.
Samuel Tunick was taken into secondary inspection at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport on January 24, 2025, as he returned from overseas. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents seized his phone and demanded his passcode. When agents entered it, the screen went blank, flashed several times, and the phone appeared to restart, erasing its contents. Agents seized the device anyway, then allowed Tunick to enter the country.
The passcode was tied to a feature in GrapheneOS, a custom Android operating system used on Google Pixel devices. The software allows users to set a separate passcode that deliberately wipes the device if entered instead of the standard unlock code. Tunick’s attorneys confirmed GrapheneOS was running on his phone.
Prosecutors charged Tunick under a federal statute that makes it unlawful to knowingly destroy or damage property to prevent authorities from seizing it. He has pleaded not guilty. His legal team filed a motion to suppress the evidence, arguing that the detention and seizure were unlawful, that Tunick was repeatedly denied access to an attorney, and that he was not informed of his legal rights. His attorneys also argued that agents lacked sufficient grounds to search his phone and were actually investigating his ties to Defend the Atlanta Forest, an environmental movement opposing a planned Atlanta law enforcement training facility known as “Cop City.”
Border agents claimed no warrant was needed because Tunick had not yet been authorized to enter the United States — a position the U.S. government has long maintained regarding device searches at the border.
Digital security experts told TechCrunch they had not previously seen charges brought this way. Runa Sandvik, founder of security consultancy Granitt, said the case “serves as a reminder that authorities may argue you knowingly destroyed data,” and advised travelers to avoid carrying sensitive data across borders when possible. The Atlanta federal court is expected to rule on Tunick’s motion to suppress later in 2026.
Source: TechCrunch