There seems to be some buzz forming around the story of a South Korean woman who ‘tricked’ airport fingerprint scan in Japan:

The woman also was quoted as saying that the broker gave her the special tape with someone else’s fingerprints on, and that she slipped past the biometric recognition system by holding her taped index fingers over the scanner.

According to an analysis by the bureau, regular adhesive tape does not work, as the scanner fails to read any prints. The results have led the immigration bureau to suspect that the woman might have used a special tape bearing someone else’s fingerprints.

Although the bureau detained the woman at an immigration facility for further questioning, she did not provide information that pinpointed what the tape is made of or the South Korean broker before she was deported again in mid-September.

The bureau has compiled a report based on her statements and submitted it to the Justice Ministry. The report says it is conceivable such tape exists and that the South Korean broker might have helped a considerable number of foreigners enter Japan using it.

According to the ministry, the immigration section at Aomori Airport kept images of the woman’s fingerprints, but they were imperfect and did not match the genuine fingerprints of the woman.

This is a little confusing. Was the print database incomplete and therefore her real prints would have allowed her through anyway, or was a fake set of prints on tape the key to getting through immigration? I suspect the latter is more important since tape has to have provided a valid set of prints or she would have failed entry. Although, this assumes she really had tape on her fingers when she went through immigration. Is that a certainty? The story says her testimony is what led police to believe this tape exists. Since she was not caught in the act and is a known liar perhaps she made the whole thing up. More details hopefully will emerge when/if she tries again.