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From: PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: EEL skin wallets, was: on trolling, was: emoticons
Date: 7 Dec 1993 03:06:53 GMT

mhensley@netcom.com (Michael Hensley) writes:

[nonsense deleted]
> ObULRelatedDiscussion: I never got any response when I asked why the FAQ
> doesn't support a number of the assertions it makes; I wouldn't want to be
> accused of reviving an old thread on AFU, but how do I check out thinkgs like
> the assertion that eelskin wallets erase magnetic cards. I would have
> accepted "Fb" (since I also believe it false, and I would assume this means
> no one has produced any evidence to the contrary), but "F" implies (at least
> to me) that it has been PROVEN false. I understand that many people are trying
> to connect "eelskin" and "electric eels", but what I heard from brother-in-law
> (whom I assign very little credence to) was that eelskin "generates" a lot of
> static electricity, which for some reason erases the data on mag-stripes.

[blah blah]

The reason things are listed in the FAQ, is _because_ they've been researched.

Here some info from the COMP.RISKS archives, (available crvax.sri.com by ftp), regarding eelskin wallets:

Jon "Magnetic personality" Papai

....snip here for included material...........

RISKS-LIST: RISKS-FORUM Digest Thursday, 11 February 1988 Volume 6 : Issue 25

Date: 11 Feb 88 00:27 PST
From: William Daul / McAir / McDonnell-Douglas Corp <WBD.MDC@OFFICE-8.ARPA>
Subject: Something fishy is going on with credit cards

From: PENINSULA TIMES TRIBUNE (Palo Alto, Feb. 10, 1988)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The same eelskin used to make popular handbags may be erasing credit cards and confounding bankers by scrambling magnetic codes on automatic teller cards, experts said Tuesday. "We've had dozens of calls from banks and individuals complaining that (automated teller machine) cards and credit cards are sick." said John McCosker, director of San Francisco's Steinhart Aquarium and a leading fish scientist. McCrosker believes the metallic residue left over from the tanning process performed in Korea, where most of the wallets and purses are made, may be causing the problem.

From: jon@june.cs.washington.edu (Jon Jacky)
Subject: "Colloidal goo" considered harmful to ATM's
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 88 10:33:35 PST

... Or, [icthyologist John McClosker] said, the problem might be from the "colloiodal goo that comes out of the slime glands of these awful things." The "eelskin" wallet problem has become so serious that (several banks) are warning card holders.

                               ['COLLOIDAL GOO' SPELLS HEADACHE FOR BANKERS,
                               Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Feb 11, 1988, p. C1]

[Another theory, from an article by Kevin Leary in the SF Chron, 10 Feb 88:

Katie Jarman, Bank of America's senior project analyst for the bank's ATM system, is not so sure. "We have found that when we demagnetized Versatel cards, the wallets or purses have large magnetic clasps that could do the damage." ]

       [Perhaps someone has a magnetic personeelity in the Korean tanning
       salons that process the slime-eel skin.  Check with Colloids of London.
       {OK, what does Sylvester Stallone eat for breakfast?  Sly-meal.}  PGN]

...........................later _this_ shows up................

RISKS-LIST: RISKS-FORUM Digest Wednesday 11 January 1989 Volume 8 : Issue 4

Date: 10 Jan 89 15:44:03 GMT
From: jds@uncecs.edu (Jane D. Smith)
Subject: eelskin wallets erase mag strips?

>From a report on NPR's All Things Considered program 1/9/89:

A spokesperson for a distributor of eelskin wallets responded to the apparently widespreading rumor [SEE RISKS-6.25] that eelskin wallets erase the magnetic strip information on credit cards and ATM cards of their owners. Sales of eelskin wallets have dropped as wary consumers boycott the alleged mag strip eaters. The magnets used as closures for the wallets are the real culprits, however, and the spokesperson said the manufacturers were now using smaller magnets as closures or using conventional snap closures. Caveat emptor! -- Jane Dunlap Smith UNC-ECS Information Services