New App Helps ID Altered Fingerprints
Algorithm assists software systems identify changes
January 27, 2012
A new application could make it easier to confirm a person's identity from a fingerprint, especially if the prints have been altered.
In 2009, a Chinese woman illegally entered Japan by altering her fingerprints in order to fool immigration officials.
While it was Japan's first documented case of biometric fraud, disguising fingerprints to hide complicity in a crime, or to evade immigration restrictions, is on the rise worldwide.
Researchers at Michigan State University have created a way to help law enforcement officials quickly identify altered fingerprints: a precise algorithm which helps software systems identify altered prints.
Altered state
Biting the pads off fingertips or surgically replacing the fingerprints with toe prints might seem like drastic measures but Anil Jain, a biometrics expert and professor at Michigan State University, says these efforts at deception are becoming increasingly common.
“People who go through this process, which can be both expensive and painful, would want to do this only for high-valued scenarios and not for cashing a check for $50," Jain says. "So the most common uses of this fingerprint alteration is people who are seeking asylum in the United States or in Europe, because if they have a prior criminal record, they will probably not be granted asylum.”
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