Police Using Dead People’s Fingerprints to Unlock iPhones is ‘Relatively Common’

The iPhone 5s is pictured at a product launch, with the first fingerprint ID system incorporated in an iPhone, in 2013. Glenn Chapman/AFP/Getty Images

Unlocking the iPhones of dead people with their fingerprints is becoming common practice for police in the United States, according to Forbes.

Police have sought warrants to unlock the iPhones of living suspects in the past, and are thought to shell out $1,500-3,000 for each unlocking.