History Main / BorrowedBiometricBypass

** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''
*** In one episode a genetically engineered SuperSoldier got around the fact that the commbadges were keyed to fingerprints by knocking out a guard and using his finger to activate it.
*** In a different episode, a time traveler from the past with a stolen time machine from the future (got that?) tries to kidnap Data. Since his handprint is required to open the door, nobody has been able to get into or to even scan the inside of the craft. Once the time traveler learns that he can't incapacitate Data (due to his stolen phaser being disabled), Data subtly but effectively convinces him to give himself up.

*** However in "The Most Toys", Data tries the same only to find his captor is wearing a personal forcefield.
*** In the episode "Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E3Brothers Brothers]]" Noonien Soong summons Data to his home using a homing device. Under the control of the device, Data had locked down the ''Enterprise''-D. In order to beam to Soong's home, the ''Enterprise'' crew use some tricorders and fancy programming to convince the transporter that it is beaming a few Commander Datas to the surface.

* In ''Anime/PsychoPass'', Makashima uses extracted eyeballs and severed fingers to enter a facility which uses biometric security rather than the setting's more prevalent cymatic scan security.

* In ''Fanfic/HunterUnwelcomeStorm'', Armsmaster has his armor set to lock down if his arm is severed from his body so no one can use his finger-prints for a biometric scan.

* ''Film/The6thDay''. [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Adam]] shoots a female goon in the hand, blowing off her thumb which he then uses to start up a truck, and get into high security areas in the cloning facility. However, the woman who lost her thumb has been cloned again, so when she tries to get into the same area the system refuses her, tipping off the bad guys what is happening.

* In TheFilmOfTheBook of ''Film/TheDeadZone'', John Smith has a vision of Gregory Stillson as president. Stillson is hot to launch a nuclear strike at the Soviet Union, but to activate the Nuclear Football, he needs a general's handprint-scan in addition to his own. Stillson tells the general, "Put your hand on that pad, or I'll cut it off and do it myself!"

* A non-lethal version in ''Film/{{Ghost in the Shell|2017}}''. Major simply hauls over an Yakuza goon she's knocked unconscious and uses his thumbprint to open the futuristic handcuffs he placed on her wrist earlier.

** A harmless version in ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'', where he uses a cell phone gadget that scans the print of whoever used the device last and the shows the phone display to the thumbprint scanner.

* In ''Film/MinorityReport'', the protagonist's wife used his eye to enter the [[spoiler:prison where he's being kept. The eyes are actually his own leftover eyes after he gets a new pair of eyes to hide his identity]]. This invokes a FridgeLogic issue as of why his eyes have not been revoked access [[spoiler:after he is captured and put in prison]].

* In ''Film/RedNotice'', Voce's vault has two explicit (faceprint and voiceprint) and one implicit (passcode determined by random number generator program running on a thumbprint-locked smartphone) biometric lock. The protagonists lift a print from a glass to unlock the phone, and use face/voice altering software to spoof the other two.

* ''Literature/{{Daemon}}'': In ''Freedom'', this is a favourite tactic of the Major, who [[spoiler:rescues girls from brothels, gets them darknet accounts and then beheads them to steal the identities, keeping them chemically alive to spoof the biometrics. He tries to pull this off on Loki, taking the man's eyes, fingertips and tongue, but is caught before he can actually assume the identity.]]

* In the first ''Literature/TheLastChancers'' book, the team has to bypass a palm scanner that can detect whether the hand still has a pulse running through it. They circumvent it by removing the hand an authorized officer, then surgically attaching it to one of the team member's wrists, via some tubes so he can hide it in his pocket.

* In Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''Literature/ALordFromPlanetEarth'' amongst one of the Precursors' artefacts there are little one-time use devices capable of making planets barren wastelands. However, they need to be activated by a human hand. Attached to a living human being capable of reasoning its activation. Yes they tried other options, including a severed warm human hand.
* Something similar in Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/MirrorDance'', although here's it's a code-key embedded in a ring, not a biometric. Sounds squick-free? No, because the ring in question is apparently ''riveted to the owner's finger bone'' and quite impossible to remove... And to get past the lock requires both the ring, and a palm print. The palm locks in that verse actually do read heat, pulse, and electrical conductivity -- as the protagonist points out, "dead hands don't open palm locks." Mark had to use some super assassin hacking skills to get past that.

** ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce'': In the novel "Invincible" Jaina Solo infiltrates the star destroyer ''Anakin Solo'' - the flagship of her brother Darth Caedus (fka Jacen Solo). In addition to [[DressingAsTheEnemy wearing a GAG Captain's uniform]], she also forces a crew member to help her past biometric check points so she can access the prison section of the ''Solo''.

* In one of the ''Literature/WomenOfTheOtherworld'' books, the doors of the top secret facilities are unlocked by fingerprint readers embedded in the door knobs. Our hero ambushes a guard and applies the logical solution to their problem.

'''Hughie:''' Yes. Yes it is... Come on, we gotta go.
* In the fourth season of ''Series/BurnNotice'', it's Lampshaded, when Larry laments that he doesn't have a bonesaw with which to remove the dead Brennen's left hand.

* The paintball game show ''Crossfire'' had one "mission" to steal a handily tanked "eyeball" to use on the enemy base biometric scanners. Since on at least one occasion the entire team were wiped on that mission, the host had a tank with his gran's eyeball in -- "because who could refuse a little old lady access?"

* In ''Series/DarkAngel'', a man got both his eye gouged out and his hand cut off (at two different occasions by the same guy) so that the maiming guy could get into two different high security installations after he had gone rogue from the evil corporation he used to work for.

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': The controls to D'Argo's ship ''Lo'la'' are bio-locked so only another member of the Luxan species can operate them. During an emergency Chiana (a Nebari) works out that if she coats her hands in D'Argo's ''vomit'' it will fool the sensors and let her operate the controls. In a later episode D'Argo pre-coats the controls with his bodily fluids before letting John Crichton borrow the ship. Crichton makes sure to wear gloves the entire time.

* ''Series/TheMentalist'': In "18-5-4", a brilliant mathematician is shot and killed by a clown who cuts off his ring finger and later uses to open the biometric lock on a hidden safe in his house.
* The ''Series/MythBusters'' tested biometric fingerprint scanners, including a top of the line model which was supposed to read body temperature, salinity, and electrical current, but they all proved very easy to fool.
** To wit: One of them was fooled by a ''black and white computer printout of the finger in question'' (that had been licked to cover salinity/perspiration).

* ''Series/{{The Punisher|2017}}''. After killing a guy, Frank Castle uses his dead hand to unlock his phone. He can be seen later unlocking the same phone with the guy's cut-off finger, [[BlackComedy which he then dumps in a drink glass]] for his friends to find. A waitress who was abused by the dead guy says it would make her day if Castle cut off [[FreudianThreat any other bits]].

---->'''Data:''' I assume your hand print will open this door, whether you are conscious or not.

*** In the episode "Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E3Brothers Brothers]]" Noonien Soong summons Data to his home using a homing device. Under the control of the device Data had locked down the ''Enterprise''-D. In order to beam to Soong's home, the ''Enterprise'' crew use some tricorders and fancy programming to convince the transporter that it is beaming a few Commander Datas to the surface.

* In the ''Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}'' episode [[Recap/Supergirl2015S2E7TheDarkestPlace "The Darkest Place"]], Cadmus steals some of [[Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} Supergirl's]] blood (via hypodermic syringe) so that they can use it to break into [[spoiler:the Fortress of Solitude]]. So this is simultaneously bloodier and less violent than other uses of trope.
* ''Series/ThreatMatrix'' has a related example where Israeli agent attempts to frame a Palestinian agent for a hit by wearing [[{{Squick}} the dead man's fingers]].
** In another episode, Vila got round a scanner by doing the lifting fingerprints trick.

* A non-violent version appears in ''VideoGame/ClubPenguin'', where Gary the Gadget Guy (Agent G) has a retina scanner locking his lab shut. ''Elite Penguin Force'' reveals that the scanner in fact, is programmed to detect ''his glasses'', meaning that anyone with an old pair of them can simply wear those and unlock his lab, which the Sports Shop clerk happens to have. You use those while looking for the missing Gary.

* A variant in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''. As a descendant of the Allagan royal bloodline, [[spoiler:G'raha Tia]] has the ability to bypass the security locks in Azys Lla. In the Patch 5.5 story quests, he gives you a "spirit vessel" containing his blood in order to test whether simply having his blood on hand will allow you to pass the Allagan biometric check. Conveniently, it works without a hitch. This may have been by design. A number of the places with such security were work places for individuals not of royal blood, so having to bring royalty to work to unlock the door every time would have been inconvenient.

** Subverted in ''VideoGame/HitmanAbsolution''. The biometric scanners you run into are state-of-the-art. Not only will using a dead enemy not work, but forcing a hostage's head into the scanner will ALSO fail, since the device can detect (presumably via pupil dilation and rapid eye movement) that they are under duress. The only way to trick a scanner is to either use disguises to trick an authorized person into opening it for you... or [[CuttingTheKnot just go hack the computer controlling the scanner, and register yourself as authorized]]. The password's probably on a sticky-note attached to the monitor.

* A curious aversion in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption''. Samus routinely has to press her hand to various scanner switches in order to activate them, and her normal hand works just fine even for scanners of different species. It makes sense that that she can activate Galactic Federation scanners (with human handprints) since she works for them, and somewhat sense that she can activate (four-fingered) ancient Chozo scanners since she is part-Chozo, but then she can also activate (three-fingered) Space Pirate scanners just the same. It's never stated if the PoweredArmor she wears is hacking the scanners or performing any other bypass.

* True to their nature, the protagonists in the ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' games don't just settle for the necessary bodypart, opting to instead [[ImAHumanitarian consume their target entirely]] and then just turn into them when necessary.

* At one point in ''VideoGame/{{Technobabylon}}'', you have to access a computer locked with a palm-print. The owner is already dead and in numerous pieces, so getting his hand is easy. However, the scanner is sophisticated enough to tell living flesh from dead flesh despite its age, so you need to figure out how to fool the scanner into thinking the severed appendage is alive.
* Particularly cruel twist occurs late in ''VideoGame/TormentedSouls'', when the protagonist Caroline Walker has to access an underground bunker that is locked by two retinal scanners situated on each of the sides, therefore intended to be used by twins. Caroline ends up getting around this by [[spoiler:traveling back in time through a VHS projector to when she was unconscious in a bathtub and ''[[EyeScream scalp her own eye]]'', then hooking it up onto one of the scaners.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'': [[spoiler:When Bart's enemy Shakan learns that the "Fatima Jasper" needed to unlock the Fatima Treasure is in fact the brilliant blue-green eyes possessed by members of the royal bloodline, he exhumes the bodies of Margie's parents and plucks out their eyeballs.]] It's kind of hard to call this KickTheDog, since this character can't walk two feet without punting a puppy. But that doesn't mean it's not incredibly satisfying to beat him in the BossBattle.

* ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'': [[http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/21p61/ "Allow me to perform a simple amputation, and I'll be right back."]] {{Subverted}} in that the dinos have figured that trick out. [[http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/21p62/ So they have to do something different]]. Also parodied in an the AltText: "As they move through the fortress, they continue to find obstacles that can only be solved by going back and retrieving other body parts from the guards."

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' episode "Rookies", Captain Rex, Commander Cody and three rookie clones are trying to break into an observation outpost that has been captured by commando droids as a cover for an invasion fleet being led by General Grievous. In order to get in, Captain Rex approaches the front door and asks to be let in deliberately altering his voice to sound like a droid. Being infiltrators, the droids are smart enough to ask Rex to remove his helmet and prove he is a droid. Rex ducks out of frame of the camera and then holds up the severed head of a commando droid to fool them into opening the door.

* Some Android phone manufacturers (most notably Samsung) have attempted user authentication by facial recognition. Unfortunately such systems could be defeated with the use of masks, or even photographs! The iPhone X attempts to avert this problem by using a 3D facial scanner and attempts to distinguish living faces from masks by looking for facial twitches, etc. While one security researcher claims to have defeated Face ID using a sophisticated mask, its effectiveness is moot as it requires a precise model of a target's face. Face ID was also notably susceptible to identical twins and close relatives.

* Some high-end vehicles sold in nations where carjacking is a serious problem require a fingerprint to start the vehicle. Early versions of these systems didn't confirm the finger was alive, leading criminals to the obvious solution to steal such a car. As [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometrics#Danger_to_owners_of_secured_items the Wikipedia article]] rather delicately puts it:
-->If the item is secured with a biometric device, the damage to the owner could be irreversible, and potentially cost more than the secured property. For example, in 2005, Malaysian car thieves cut off the finger of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class owner when attempting to steal the car.

* A variant in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''. As a descendant of the Allagan royal bloodline, [[spoiler:G'raha Tia]] has the ability to bypass the security locks in Azys Lla. In the Patch 5.5 story quests, he gives you a "spirit vessel" containing his blood in order to test whether simply having his blood on hand will allow you to pass the Allagan biometric check. Conveniently, it works without a hitch.

* In a ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode, a genetically engineered SuperSoldier got around the fact that the commbadges were keyed to fingerprints by knocking out a guard and using his finger to activate it.
** In a different episode, a time traveler from the past with a stolen time machine from the future (got that?) tries to kidnap Data. Since his handprint is required to open the door, nobody has been able to get into or to even scan the inside of the craft. Once the time traveler learns that he can't incapacitate Data (due to his stolen phaser being disabled), Data subtly but effectively convinces him to give himself up.
--->'''Data:''' I assume your hand print will open this door, whether you are conscious or not.
** However in "The Most Toys", Data tries the same only to find his captor is wearing a personal forcefield.
* In the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Who Mourns for Morn?" a member of a criminal group that had performed a heist years ago threatens to do this to Quark, needing his thumb to sign for delivery of a package (containing the stolen money). Another member of the group points out that they can't very well expect to be taken seriously if they use a severed thumb to sign the invoice.
* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2", Jurati reluctantly yanks out Saga's good eye so she can gain access to Picard's locked room.

* In ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', the Port-to-Port Killer once left an eye ball in an ice cube in Tony's drink at a bar. On a hunch, Jimmy brings it up to MTAC, and the door opens. We later see the man to whom it belongs (belonged), alive and well, just with an eye patch.
** It also turns out that the NSA had the developers of the iris scanner implement a backdoor for their own access, meaning two agents have access to ''every iris scanner in the world'' (including NCIS, much to Gibbs' concern) and merrily go around clandestinely helping allied agencies with their operations. Sure enough some bad guys find out about this, capture one of them and force her to provide access for a break-in.

* In ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'''s "The Dome Experiment" episode, Benson knocks out one of the dome scientists and places his teeth onto the second dome's dental lock, opening up its main doorway and allowing Benson to enter it and investigate it futher for clues as to what's really going on with it.

* In ''Series/RedDwarf'' (Inquisitor), Lister and Kryten get [[RetGone replaced]] by another Lister and Kryten, who subsequently get killed (and blown up). Lister uses other-Lister's severed hand to open a door, leading to the exchange quoted above.

* In ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', Booker and Elizabeth reach the gate of Comstock House, only to find that the security scanner at the gate requires Lady Comstock's handprint. Because Lady Comstock is dead and perfectly preserved within an airtight coffin, Elizabeth decides to break into her tomb and hack off her arm - though she also makes it pretty clear that this is also a form of revenge for [[spoiler:having her imprisoned in Monument Island as a child.]] Unfortunately, [[BigBad Father Comstock]] finds out about this and [[spoiler:uses the Siphon to resurrect the corpse as the Siren, a merger of a still-living version of Lady Comstock from another dimension and Elizabeth's hatred and self-loathing]].

* A variant in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''. As a descendant of the Allagan royal bloodline, [[spoiler: G'raha Tia]] has the ability to bypass the security locks in Azys Lla. In the Patch 5.5 story quests, he gives you a "spirit vessel" containing his blood in order to test whether simply having his blood on hand will allow you to pass the Allagan biometric check. Conveniently, it works without a hitch.

* During Issue #7 of ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld,'' the player ends up trying to break into an [[MegaCorp Orochi]] research facility hidden under the Transylvanian forest - only to be kept out by a biometric lock requiring both a palmprint and a retina scan; thankfully, there are plenty of dead Orochi security guards strewn about the area, allowing you to collect the necessary... components... with ease.

* Particularly cruel twist occurs late in ''VideoGame/TormentedSouls'', when the protagonist Caroline Walker has to access an underground bunker that is locked by two retinal scanners situated on each of the sides, therefore intended to be used by twins. Caroline ends up getting around this by [[spoiler: traveling back in time through a VHS projector to when she was unconscious in a bathtub and ''[[EyeScream scalp her own eye]]'', then hooking it up onto one of the scaners.]]

* Until someone realized that a living tissue could be under the dead one, or a less grim example; a latex print of the target's fingerprint they got off a glass [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/30/hack-phone-fingerprint-photographs_n_6395730.html and even build from pictures alone]]. Even licking the false print is enough sometimes.

!!Examples

* An online ad for HP Laptops uses a cute version of the "harmless" variety. A woman is[[note]]pretending to be[[/note]] asleep on her couch. Her young son takes her hand, presses the thumb to the laptop's fingerprint reader, and starts watching cartoons.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* In ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' “[[http://www.fireflyfans.net/bluesun.aspx?bid=10718 Where The River Flows]]”, River and Mal force a {{mook}} to use his retinal scan to gain entry to a place where Jayne is being held.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOBatmanMovie'', the Riddler steals an arm from Jeff, a Gotham Energy Facility worker, and uses his handprint to give the rest of the Rogues Gallery access to the reactor core.

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]

* ''Film/TheBatman2022'': Used for a sick joke by the Riddler when he cuts off the thumb of his first victim, the Gotham City mayor (apparently before he'd actually died) and leaves it attached to the Mayor's USB drive -- a literal [[VisualPun thumb drive]]. They then have to use the thumbprint to unlock the drive, much to Gordon's disgust.

* Proving you don't ''have'' to live in a high-tech world to use this trope, in ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian2011'', Conan cuts off a jail guard's head and holds it up to a torture chamber's small window, allowing the torturer to recognize it's his "fellow guard" knocking. As soon as the man opens the door, Conan knocks him silly [[GrievousHarmWithABody with the head]].
* In TheFilmOfTheBook of ''Film/TheDeadZone,'' John Smith has a vision of Gregory Stillson as president. Stillson is hot to launch a nuclear strike at the Soviet Union, but to activate the Nuclear Football, he needs a general's handprint-scan in addition to his own. Stillson tells the general, "Put your hand on that pad, or I'll cut it off and do it myself!"

* A healthy trade for blood samples, urine samples, fingerprints, dandruff, and hair existed in the movie ''Film/{{Gattaca}}''. The protagonist used this to [[strike:break a glass ceiling]] fake the identity of another man whom he paid for the samples, but presumably others used the black market in biologicals for more nefarious purposes.
* A non-lethal version in ''Film/GhostInTheShell2017''. Major simply hauls over an Yakuza goon she's knocked unconscious and uses his thumbprint to open the futuristic handcuffs he placed on her wrist earlier.

** In ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', Loki and his minions use a fancy piece of stolen S.H.I.E.L.D. tech that lets them scan someone's eye and turn it into a hologram good enough to fool a retina scanner. Loki probably didn't ''have'' to [[EyeScream jam it right into the poor man's eye socket, though]]...
** In ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'', ComicBook/NickFury fools a thumbprint scanner by lifting an Air Force officer's print using a piece of scotch tape.

* Attempted in ''[[Film/TheMummy2017 The Mummy]]'' to escape Dr. Jekyll's office. [[spoiler:Turns out Mr. Hyde has different fingerprints...]]

* In ''Film/TheSnowman2017'', the villain kills a police detective and chops off her index finger in order to gain access to the fingerprint-protected police database.

* ''Film/Ultraviolet2006'' has a system to scan someone entering a secure facility to make sure they aren't vampires. It involves two thick needles ''stabbing the subject in the wrists''. Getting around it by temporarily altering one's blood seems fairly simple.

* Used in one of the ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' books, although they later reattach the finger via magic. In this case, the lock isn't a computer scan but one that uses gel, so severing the finger really is the only option. [[spoiler:The BigBad turns out to be waiting inside the room (he had a different fingerprint set to work for that one night), and admits he can't figure out Artemis got around that lock without even waking the person up]].

* Discussed in ''[[Literature/TheLeagueOfPeoplesVerse Ascending]]''. Uclod demonstrates his LivingShip's security features to Oar, including the fact that it won't operate until confirming his DNA, palmprint, and fingerprints. Oar is unimpressed:
-->'''Oar:''' That is foolish. If criminals wished to impersonate you, they could simply cut off your hand. Then they could rub the detached member against the wall--\\
'''Uclod:''' Whoa! Just whoa. What is ''wrong'' with you, missy? How can such grisly ideas pop into such a pretty head?\\
'''Oar:''' I am simply practical. Unlike your Zarett's security precautions, which would seem to encourage villains to amputate--\\
'''Uclod:''' Hush! Right now. Not a word.

* In ''[[Literature/{{Daemon}} Freedom]]'', this is a favourite tactic of the Major, who [[spoiler:rescues girls from brothels, gets them darknet accounts and then beheads them to steal the identities, keeping them chemically alive to spoof the biometrics. He tries to pull this off on Loki, taking the man's eyes, fingertips and tongue, but is caught before he can actually assume the identity.]]

* Something similar in Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/MirrorDance'', although here's it's a code-key embedded in a ring, not a biometric. Sounds squick-free? No, because the ring in question is apparently ''riveted to the owner's finger bone'' and quite impossible to remove...
** And to get past the lock requires both the ring, and a palm print. The palm locks in that verse actually do read heat, pulse, and electrical conductivity -- as the protagonist points out, "dead hands don't open palm locks." Mark had to use some super assassin hacking skills to get past that.

* In ''[[Creator/IsaacAsimov Robots and Empire]]'', two villains disagree on how best to perform their mission. One has a gun. The other's thumb is needed to work the required equipment. The armed one states that if he'll blow off the other's head off, the thumb will be quite intact.
* In the first ''[[Literature/TheLastChancers Schaeffer's Last Chancers]]'' book, the team has to bypass a palm scanner that can detect whether the hand still has a pulse running through it. They circumvent it by removing the hand an authorized officer, then surgically attaching it to one of the team member's wrists, via some tubes so he can hide it in his pocket.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': ''Rebel Force: Trapped'' has Luke Skywalker going through an Imperial base with a stolen passcard just fine until he reaches a palm scanner. Fortunately, it was guarded by the only two stormtroopers he'd encountered in the base who were inclined to shoot first, so he could kill them and use one's hand without violating his MartialPacifist preferences.

* ''Series/TheBoys2019'': In "Butcher Baker Candlestick Maker", Lamplighter uses his still-valid palmprint to get Hughie into the Vought Tower, only to burn himself alive. There's then a squick-inducing scene where Hughie has to break a bottle and use the jagged glass to hack through Lamplighter's charred wrist so he can continue using the hand to rescue the people he's after. It even leads to an amusing dialogue when Hughie later uses it to open a cell door:
-->'''Donna''': Is that a human hand?\\
'''Hughie''': Yes. Yes it is... Come on, we gotta go.

* ''Series/Halo2022'': After Dr. Halsey is placed under house arrest and her research lab handed over to her daughter Miranda, she arranges for her daughter to visit so she can reconcile with Miranda. Then it's revealed her HeldGaze during this reconciliation was just so she could use specialized contacts to capture an image of Miranda's eyes for the retinal scan. Once Cortana hacks through the UNSC firewalls, it allows Halsey to monitor Miranda's experiments from her room.

* ''Series/ThePunisher2017''. After killing a guy, Frank Castle uses his dead hand to unlock his phone. He can be seen later unlocking the same phone with the guy's cut-off finger, [[BlackComedy which he then dumps in a drink glass]] for his friends to find. A waitress who was abused by the dead guy says it would make her day if Castle cut off [[FreudianThreat any other bits]].

* Done in ''Series/SevenDays'', when Frank beats up a guard and then realizes he needs a valid handprint to pass a secure door.

[[folder:Tabletop RPG]]

* Used in ''Videogame/AloneInTheDark2008'' in the museum, where you need to use a sword to hack off a guard's arm to get past a scanner. It's all right, he's already dead.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Used in ''Webcomic/ChoppingBlock'' [[http://choppingblock.org/d/20010417.html here]]

* In [[http://www.teamfortress.com/theshowdown/ this]] ''WebComic/TeamFortress2'' comic, [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 the Heavy]] needs to get past a handprint scanner to get into [[spoiler:the Administrator's secret base]], so he elects to use a recently-deceased {{Mook}}'s severed arm.

[[folder:Web Original]]

** Until someone realized that a living tissue could be under the dead one, or a less grim example; a latex print of the target's fingerprint they got off a glass [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/30/hack-phone-fingerprint-photographs_n_6395730.html and even build from pictures alone]]. Even licking the false print is enough sometimes.

* Scarily enough, real-life criminals know ways they can get your fingerprints off beverage containers and similar surfaces you've touched and use them for all sorts of ill purposes, [[ParanoiaFuel including framing you for their misdeeds]]!
** There ''are'' ways to distinguish faked fingerprints from real ones; however, investigations generally don't employ tests that refined unless the police have other grounds to suspect such forgery. Not to mention most criminals are petty criminals and won't go through all that effort and/or are not smart enough to do so. [[CuttingTheKnot It's a lot easier to just smash the case and wear gloves.]]

-->''If the item is secured with a biometric device, the damage to the owner could be irreversible, and potentially cost more than the secured property. For example, in 2005, Malaysian car thieves cut off the finger of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class owner when attempting to steal the car.''
* The James Bond example mentioned in the film section above is actually TruthInTelevision. As early as the 1970s, surgical procedures were developed by the United States military to alter a person's retina. Why? It was to duplicate someone's retinal patterns for retinal scans.

* The fact that this trope can happen is why really secure security systems go for multi-factor authentication - you can't change your thumbprint if someone finds a way to copy or emulate it, but you can change passwords.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Film/AngelsAndDemons''. A woman uses the eye scanner at CERN, [[FailedASpotCheck not realizing until she touches her chin]] that there's blood on the chin rest below it. She's then horrified to discover an eyeball lying on the floor, and then a colleague with his eye cut out.
* In ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' we see a brief glimpse of a news article in 2015 that says "Thumb Bandits Strike Again". Since all monetary transactions in that future are done by thumb scanners, criminals would start to steal victims' thumbs.

* In ''[[Literature/{{Daemon}} Freedom]]'' this is a favourite tactic of the Major, who [[spoiler:rescues girls from brothels, gets them darknet accounts and then beheads them to steal the identities, keeping them chemically alive to spoof the biometrics. He tries to pull this off on Loki, taking the man's eyes, fingertips and tongue, but is caught before he can actually assume the identity.]]

* ''Series/Halo2022''. After Dr. Halsey is placed under house arrest and her research lab handed over to her daughter Miranda, she arranges for her daughter to visit so she can reconcile with Miranda. Then it's revealed her HeldGaze during this reconciliation was just so she could use specialized contacts to capture an image of Miranda's eyes for the retinal scan. Once Cortana hacks through the UNSC firewalls, it allows Halsey to monitor Miranda's experiments from her room.

* ''VideoGame/AfterfallInsanity'' features a hospital mission where the retinal and fingerprint scans of two doctors are required to end a security quarantine. Guess what you have to do when your enemies are insane and dual-wielding any melee weapons they can find?
** [[spoiler:FridgeBrilliance occurs when it's revealed the main character is just insane -- there are two "insane" doctors who jump out when trying to retrieve the body parts. You just kill them and take theirs instead.]]

* In ''VideoGame/BeneathASteelSky'' you have to change your fingerprint to get through a fingerprint scanner.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/WatchDogs2'': Tidis' biometric palm readers check heart rate and blood flow, meaning using severed or "coerced" hands isn't viable. This necessitates using a Tidis robot to set off an EMP in the security hub and reset the doors to the default codes... a plan Wrench is significantly against, as the only Tidis robot Dedsec has is Wrench Jr.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* ''Series/BlakesSeven'': {{Discussed}} in ''Space Fall'' when Gan threatens to take off the guard's hand if he doesn't use it to open the door with a palm scan. The guard wisely agrees.

* ''Series/TheBoys2019''. In "Butcher Baker Candlestick Maker", Lamplighter uses his still-valid palmprint to get Hughie into the Vought Tower, only to burn himself alive. There's then a squick-inducing scene where Hughie has to break a bottle and use the jagged glass to hack through Lamplighter's charred wrist so he can continue using the hand to rescue the people he's after. It even leads to an amusing dialogue when Hughie later uses it to open a cell door:

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995''. In "The Light Brigade", [[spoiler:a character is revealed to be an alien spy surgically altered to appear human, who [[KillAndReplace killed and replaced]] a human prisoner-of-war who was then repatriated. He mentions that the retinal scans were the most difficult to fool, so the aliens had to surgically implant him with the eyes of the man he's impersonating.]]

* ''VideoGame/GhostReconFutureSoldier'': In the mission to rescue the captive Russian president, [[PlayerCharacte Kozak]] needs to get past a retinal scanner. He manages to catch a Russian soldier off-guard, uses them to activate the scanner, then knocks them out.

* In ''VideoGame/GhostReconFutureSoldier'', you manhandle a guard into taking a retinal scan.

[[caption-width-right:350:"Thanks for lending me a hand there, mate."]]

* In ''Fanfic/UnwelcomeStormsHunter'', Armsmaster has his armor set to lock down if his arm is severed from his body so no one can use his finger-prints for a biometric scan.

* Averted in ''Video/GameWatchDogs2'': Tidis' biometric palm readers check heart rate and blood flow, meaning using severed or "coerced" hands isn't viable. This necessitates using a Tidis robot to set off an EMP in the security hub and reset the doors to the default codes... a plan Wrench is significantly against, as the only Tidis robot Dedsec has is Wrench Jr.

-->-- ''Series/RedDwarf'', "The Inquisitor"

* [[spoiler:Junko Enoshima]] does this in ''Anime/DanganRonpa3'' by ''spooning out'' the eye of one of the members of the school board in order to [[spoiler:access the room where Izuru Kamukura is held]]. For extra disturbing points, [[spoiler:she used the spoon to eat some microwaved curry rice just beforehand, purely to make the guard suffer more]].
* ''Manga/InuYasha'': In a fantasy example, Sesshomaru grafts a human arm onto his body to get around Tessaiga's "cannot be wielded by a full demon" limitation.

* ''Film/TheBatman''. Used for a sick joke by The Riddler when he cuts off the thumb of his first victim, the Gotham City mayor (apparently before he'd actually died) and leaves it attached to the Mayor's USB drive--a literal [[VisualPun thumb drive]]. They then have to use the thumbprint to unlock the drive, much to Gordon's disgust.

* In ''VideoGame/GhostRecon: Future Soldier'', you manhandle a guard into taking a retinal scan.

* Subverted in ''{{Series/Dollhouse}}''. Sierra infiltrates the National Security Agency by knocking out a female NSA worker and stealing her identity. She also takes a high-resolution photograph of her eye, which is then copied onto a contact lens.