Cover image via Douyin
Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp for the latest stories and breaking news.
Staff members at a neighbourhood committee in Wenzhou, China, were caught trying to outsmart the facial-recognition attendance system by using photos of their colleagues
Instead of showing up in person, they allegedly used printed masks of their colleagues' faces to fool the system into clocking them in.
According to Wenzhou City Daily, a resident named Li claimed that the committee's secretariat orchestrated the scheme.
Surveillance footage — captured right above the attendance machine — caught the group in the act.
The video showed one person holding up paper masks to the scanner, clocking in for multiple absentees.
While biometrics are often seen as the gold standard for security, this incident highlights a vulnerability in cheaper hardware
Netizens pointed out that lower-resolution machines lack the depth perception to distinguish between a living human and a 2D image.
The stunt sparked a heated debate online about work culture and integrity.
While some highlighted the disparity between these workers and the gruelling '996' culture faced by private sector employees, others were less forgiving
"This is corruption. They should all be fired and even legally punished. There are so many people who struggle to find a job," said one online observer.
The local government reportedly promised to respond to the allegation by 31 December.
