Kieran Higgins of Spain, who had the tip of his index finger amputated in a crane accident, discovered that despite the partial amputation, he could unlock his Samsung Galaxy A20 smartphone with the severed fingertip.

In a video call with The Register, Higgins explained that he decided to keep the fingertip for insurance purposes, having spent most of his life dealing with insurance companies. 'You never know when things might turn sour. Insurance companies never want to pay out."

But when he realized that he no longer had access to his "brand new shiny whatever," he "devised a cunning plan to enroll his fingerprints" using the atrophied fingers that had been sealed away in a "medicinal alcohol graveyard" for two weeks. It's a true old-school horror vibe. It sounds like something Ethan Winters might do in Resident Evil 7: Resident Evil.

Higgins had to drive himself more than 20 km from where the accident occurred in rural Spain.

Remarkably, he was able to genuinely function to unlock his cell phone, despite the fact that his fingertips were so badly crushed that they could not be reattached. At least, it appeared to work, as reported by the reporter through a video link. [According to Lucas Francais, manager of biometric devices at Thales, a French aerospace, defense, transportation, and security company, there is currently no consumer technology that detects the "liveliness" of a finger. The "live finger detection" "prevents the use of fake fingers made of rubber or gelatin, but allows the use of real fingers, whether alive or dead.

Thus, the well-known "biometric bypass borrowing" (using the dead person's hand to unlock the lock) may not seem so far-fetched in this age of ruthless technology.