Some people also eat rocks, it doesn't mean it's common or even a good thing to do.

desperate people do that. Scammer Altman went to Argentina during the peak economic crise of the century to make that offer.

likewise, most USA government backed benefits require people to submit all sorts of biometric to a private company who used to monetize coupons for military deployed personel, called gov.id or something.

I've seen them in Chile, which wasn't in crisis. Always had a queue waiting to be scanned.