Silicone fingers fool punch-in clock in Brazil

[March 14, 2013]  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- The Brazilian newspaper O Globo is reporting that a doctor in Sao Paulo was arrested after being caught in the act of using fake fingers made of silicone and imprinted with real fingerprints to defraud a hospital's biometric punch-in clock.

The news report says the doctor, Thauane Nunes Ferreira, was detained and released Sunday. Police told the newspaper the suspect confessed to using different fake fingers bearing the prints of 11 fellow doctors and 20 nurses to pretend they were showing up to work five overnight shifts each month instead of just one. She also said the staff at the Ferraz Vasconcelos Hospital paid the director $2,400 per month to participate.

Ferreira will face charges of falsifying a public document and could get two to six years in prison.

[Associated Press]

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