In a story that draws up Hollywood images of criminal masterminds who keep plastic surgeons on the payroll to alter their appearance, the BBC has reported that a Chinese woman illegally entered Japan by having her fingerprints surgically transplanted. Lin Rong told Japanese police she paid Chinese brokers $15,000 to swap the fingerprints of the index finger and thumb of her right and left hand.
The procedure fooled a Japanese airport's biometric security system in what police are calling Japan's first case of biometric fraud. According to Asahi.com, the system is designed to match fingerprints with criminal records.
No mention was made of who might be doing the actual slicing off of the fingertips of illegal immigrants and the sewing back on.
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