A security expert, Charles Awuzie, has warned VIPs and Persons of Interest to be mindful of how they dispose of chewing gum, as it poses a security risk to them.
Awuzie, who shared the tip on his official Facebook page, said chewing gums can hold DNA for more than 1000 years and has been used to identify targets.
The post reads in part: “Always dispose of your used chewing gums in a toilet – not even in a dustbin.
“In my training, I have the skill to extract fingerprints from chewing gums disposed of carelessly. But a criminal who has the same level of skill can do the same and use the extracted fingerprints to gain unauthorized access to private information, homes, etc.
“The mistake people make is to use the tip of their fingers to pull out used gums before casually throwing them into a waste basket. If you are a target and you do this in public, all that the hacker, detective, or private investigator needs to do is to grab the discarded chewing gum, and boom, they have your fingerprint.
“Your DNA can be retrieved from a used chewing gum even after 1000 years,” he said.
Awuzie added that “discarded Chewing gums have helped American police to link rape and murder suspects to the crime. DNA can be extracted from discarded gums even many years after they were discarded.”
He advised people not to “discard your chewing gum in public. Imagine that the police find your chewing gum at a crime scene – how would you deny committing such a crime.”
“You can google how many people the police have put behind bars simply because their discarded chewing gums were found at crime scenes.
“Bite-Marks, or incisions on your discarded chewing gum found at a crime scene can be used to jail you.
“When you bite, your dentition leaves unique marks on the object. This is called Bite-Marks.” He said.
