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Fingerprints: Fraud

Volume 460: debated on Monday 21 May 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of whether individuals whose fingertips have been smoothed through manual labour could potentially have their identities forged more easily. (134398)

Damage to fingerprints may lead to poorer quality biometric records being registered in some cases, although this is dependent on the equipment and recording process deployed. The fingerprints of those working in certain kinds of manual labour could be subject to such damage.

However, there is no evidence that people with damaged fingerprints are more susceptible to impersonation. Where a difficulty is experienced in conducting a biometric match against previously enrolled biometrics, second line processes would be in place to deal with such circumstances as appropriate to that particular situation.