> They allegedly do liveness checks with an IR sensor to make sure they are scanning a live eye

If you control one of their devices, you could always just modify it fake a live input.

Even if they intend to control the scanners themselves, corruption can probably thwart that. This comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29001214) makes it sounds like they may be operating in countries with endemic corruption.

Humans and eyeballs are just machines. Anything they check for liveness can be simulated if there's enough incentive to do it.

Assuming it was 99.99999% foolproof, then you may have some other problems which are even bigger: kidnapping, having children to collect their coins, etc.

The big logic flaw here is the same one as when the Soviet Union collapsed and shares of the state owned enterprises and assets were sold to the general public: poor people sell the assets to the wealthy.

The entire thing is strange, and doesn’t make sense.

I wonder if would also be able to distinguish between human eyes and the eyes of a different animal.