For decades, the question of “how to change fingerprints” has been lively debated on online forums and in the press. The fantastic incompetence of commentators and the murderous arguments from the category of "I saw a movie" do not inspire confidence. Meanwhile, clarifying this issue would be harmless. Especially taking into account the introduction of biometric passports with mandatory fingerprinting and the emergence of new identity technologies.
We will understand it simply: using the analysis of information resources. What, where and how they write on the topic "is it possible to change fingerprints."
Fingerprint
The first and main feature is the individuality of the papillary pattern, which contains a huge array of information for reading. Even identical twins do not have the same lines at their fingertips.
The second feature of fingerprinting is the relative immutability of the finger pattern. A papillary pattern is formed even in the womb, with the growth of a person it only increases in size, but does not change at all.
If the surface layer of the fingertips is broken (read below about Chicago bandits), then the pattern may disappear or change for a while. But over time, he, one way or another, is restored. This was verified by numerous experiments: boiling water, hot oil, a hot iron - everything is scary, painful and ... useless. Once the wounds heal, patterns reappear in all their glory.
If the trauma of the fingertips is deep, lifelong scars and scars form in its place, which are an excellent sign for the police - a person with deformed fingertips is interesting in itself for any law enforcement agencies.
FBI warns
How to change fingerprints is, of course, a semi-legal issue. With this kind of topic it is better to use reliable professional sources. These include magazines and forensic websites. They often publish “front-line reports” from the FBI, which is considered the world leader in human identification technologies and various kinds of research around this issue.
To date, most often the fingertips are cut deep and vertically. Then the formed scar will violate the fingerprint, and the search engine may make a mistake - not to find the initial data in the database. Sometimes they make a zigzag cut, the goals are the same.
In 2014, the FBI began to form a database of a new generation - a kind of catalog of fake fingerprints. This also included ways to change fingerprints to better recognize changed options.
It all started in Chicago
The first case in 1934 in Chicago became a classic of the genre. Jack Klutas, the famous leader of the armed gang, was shot dead during a police raid. The corpse began to be fingerprinted for official identification. But the prints, horror, were not. It came to the FBI chief Hoover: is it a joke, the whole fingerprint system was in danger. It turned out that some surgeon had previously removed Klutas’s skin from his fingertips so that he would not be identified at the next arrest. As a method, fingerprinting, thank God, has survived. Because on the thinnest young skin that grew on the site of the cut, weak, but the same papillary lines appeared.
Attention to surgeons: you may be drowned in Lake Michigan
Just a few weeks later, the Chicago gang of mother Barker was taxed by the FBI from all sides - she was threatened with real arrests. Two ringleaders decided to get rid of their fingerprints, and their acquaintance “gangster” doctor Mr. Moran cut off their skin from their fingertips. It was just right to shoot the horror film How the Fingerprint is Changed: the pain was unbearable. For four weeks, mother Barker took care of her boys at a secret turnout: the main medicine was morphine. A month later, they realized that they were suffering in vain: all the same papillary lines appeared on the site of the healed wounds . Dr. Moran was drowned in Lake Michigan. The end of the story.
The penultimate attempt: transplantation on the fingers of your own skin
Already at the end of the 30s, against the backdrop of fierce wars with the mafia, forensic scientists came to the conclusion that the only way with which you can change your fingerprints forever is by transplanting your own skin from other areas onto your fingers.
And that happened. In 1941, FBI agents caught a suspicious blonde who could not take fingerprints upon arrest - they simply did not exist. Upon a full examination, he found several symmetrical scars on his chest - from there they removed the skin for transplantation. The tricks did not help, the criminal was identified by the good old file cabinet, it was J. Phillips - a bandit and a murderer.
Do you know what is the most interesting? Three months later, Phillips showed a traitorous papillary picture through transplanted skin .
And now attention: this was the penultimate serious attempt to deceive fingerprinting with skin changes at the fingertips. Serious bandits understood everything, drew conclusions and found another way from the completely opposite side: they began to work in gloves.
Last try: new Frankenstein
It was a famous case called Broken. The AFIS system could not identify the arrested criminal, although they were sure that they had a terry recidivist.
FBI agents suspected intentional fingerprint distortion. The fact is that it was a question of pedophilia, and such crimes take place in the United States under the highest level of danger. This means that everyone, including neighbors, schools, neighboring shops, will know the history of this person’s crimes. So in this case, the game was worth the candle.
These were not cuts or burns. Alien skin was also impossible - it would have already been torn away. As a result, the following was discovered: the code from the fingers was cut and then cut into small pieces. These pieces were sewn in a chaotic mess, like petty patches: something like Frankenstein. It is clear that such a painful and complicated, from a technical point of view, operation could be carried out only by a very dangerous and hiding criminal. Forensics have begun to add fingerprints like jigsaw puzzles. As a result, they identified the most dangerous pedophile criminal who killed more than one girl.
Fingerprints
"How to become an invisible man" - stories on this and similar topics like to publish newspapers of mass entertainment sense - "AiF", "Trud" or "Moskovsky Komsomolets", etc.
And, of course, numerous forums: the topic enjoys unquenchable interest. The level of stories under the heading "How to Change Fingerprints" is impressive and gives great pleasure.
A literal quote from one forum:
There are several ways. The most reliable is a complete finger transplant. If fingerprints are needed for identification at the entrance - you can cut off the fingers of a real person involved (I saw it in the movies, they do it). If you need to hide, then you can wear rubber gloves, but their hands sweat in them. For an amateur.
Pineapple and chemotherapy (no one knows which one) are the most mentioned champions in numerous forums on the topic "how to change fingerprints."
To summarize. On the question "how to change fingerprints at home" I want to answer honestly and directly: no way. Unless, of course, you are not a giant of thought from any forum that you’ve "seen in the cinema."
Is the game worth the candle
This is perhaps the most important question for everyone interested in changing fingerprints. Modern biometrics is not at all limited to fingerprinting. This is the most effective system for fixing fingerprints and feet, face recognition and much more. The famous FBI integrated information database called IAFIS is complemented by a new generation NGI system - a platform for functionality that can use new technologies. Now it is the most effective and largest repository of biometric data, including a collection of attempts to get rid of their fingerprints in the history of forensics.
So you need to think carefully about whether it is worth mimicking your fingers to deep scars and scars so that new search tools identify you without any difficulties.