The BBC is one of several outlets carrying the bizarre story of a Brazilian doctor arrested for allegedly defrauding her employer, a hospital in the town of Ferraz de Vasconcelos, near São Paulo. At the time of her arrest, she was equipped with a total of sixteen fingers—ten of which God gave her, and six of which were crafted of silicone and given to her by coworkers. At least three of the extra fingers bore the prints of fellow doctors at the hospital.

The doctor, Thaune Nunes Ferreira, 29, claims through her attorney that she was forced to use the silicone fingers to clock in to the hospital's time card system in order to cover for absentee colleagues. "She says she was innocent because it is a condition they imposed on her to keep her job," the attorney notes.

According to the Bangkok Post and several other sources, Brazil's Globo TV International network obtained and played footage of Ferreira clocking in to the hospital with her own permanently attached digits, then touching the same fingerprint scanner with two of the silicone fakes. The scanner produced paper time card receipts for her and the two employees to whom the silicone fingers' prints belonged. In this way, notes the Post, "it looked like there were three doctors on duty when there was just one."

Five doctors at the hospital have been suspended so far for allegedly taking part in the scam, which let them pocket pay while not showing up for work. However, this is endemic of a much larger "ghost employee" problem in Ferraz de Vasconcelos. The mayor speculated that there are at least 300 more public employees in the town spread across health, education, and security who are engaged in similar time card fraud. The members of this "army of ghosts," as the mayor calls it, are all receiving pay without showing up for work.

It is not stated whether the army of ghosts employs an army of silicone fingers to clock in for them, but that would definitely be creepy.