Authorities
in the little town of Ferraz de Vasconselhos in the State of São Paulo became
incensed when they discovered that municipal employees were signing in for each
other at the beginning of their workday and signing out at the end, thereby
enabling them to take other jobs when they were supposed to be working for the
city.
They
reacted with technology.
Biometric
readers similar to the one shown above were installed and programmed with digital
impressions of everyone on the payroll.
And
that should have put a stop to that little scam.
But it didn't, because, six tech-savvy physicians were among the perpetrators.
One of them was this lady, twenty-nine-year-old Thauane Nunes Ferreira, shown at the moment of her arrest. Doctor Ferreira and her five cohorts rose to the challenge by casting latex impressions of their own fingerprints.
One of them was this lady, twenty-nine-year-old Thauane Nunes Ferreira, shown at the moment of her arrest. Doctor Ferreira and her five cohorts rose to the challenge by casting latex impressions of their own fingerprints.
And
then making sufficient copies so that one of them, acting alone, could “sign in”
for all six.
The author
of the scheme, according to the local cops, was Ferreira’s boss, and the head
of the town’s ambulatory emergency services, Doctor Jorge Cury.
Shown here on the right, Cury was photographed when he arrived to defend himself, and his twenty-five year
record with the municipality, during an interview with the local cops.
They
claim he was charging his colleagues about US$ 600 for every
twenty-four-hour period in which they were certified as showing up for work –
and didn’t.
Between
their municipal salary, and the money they earned by working another job, it
turned out to be a good deal for everyone concerned, except, of course, for the
poor pigeons who lay around waiting for emergency treatment while the people
who were supposed to be caring for them were employed elsewhere.
Cury
and the others were apprehended after Ferreira was recorded on video, one fine
morning, using one phony finger after another to register the arrival on-shift
of the entire gang.
Every
member of which was working elsewhere - and quickly identified through (duh!) their fingerprints.
Leighton - Monday
