China TV variety show exposes scam linking ‘peace’ sign selfies to privacy risks

Experts warn that seemingly innocent photographs exposing fingerprints can be harvested and copied by criminals intent on fraud

A casual peace sign in a selfie has become China’s latest online privacy concern after experts warned that the popular pose could expose users’ fingerprints.

In a mainland workplace reality show aired in April, financial expert Li Chang used a celebrity selfie to show how clearly visible fingers in a photograph could put personal biometric data at risk.

Li said fingerprints could potentially be extracted from selfies taken within 1.5 metres if the fingers faced the camera directly. Even at a distance of 1.5 to 3 metres, around half of the hand details could still be recovered.

The programme showed fingerprint ridges becoming visible after the image was enhanced with photo-editing software and artificial intelligence (AI) tools.

According to China Newsweek, Jing Jiwu, a cryptography professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, said portrait photos taken with high-quality cameras could make it possible to reconstruct hand details from a “scissor hand” pose.

He noted that fingerprint recovery was usually difficult due to factors such as lighting, focus and image clarity. However, the risk increases when photographs are taken with higher-resolution devices or when criminals obtain multiple related images.