Could Lindsay Lohan Bluff Her Breathalyzer Ankle Bracelet?

May 27, 2010— -- Starlet Lindsay Lohan isn't exactly what you'd call the rules-following type. So it's little surprise that just days after a judge ordered her to wear an alcohol-monitoring anklet, reports say she's already attempted to beat the bracelet.

According to a source quoted by Us Weekly magazine, the actress, who previously wore the bracelet in 2007, tried using a paper clip to jam the signal and perfume (which is high in alcohol content) to confuse the sensor.

The magazine said Lohan denied attempting both tactics. But is it possible that she could find a way to bypass the bracelet's sensors?

"Nothing is foolproof," said Kathleen Brown, spokeswoman for the Denver-based Alcohol Monitoring Systems Inc., which makes the SCRAM (or Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring) ankle bracelet. "Men even escape from Alcatraz."

But she said that of the 135,000 people who have worn the bracelet since 2004, she's never heard of someone effectively tampering with the device and evading detection.

Brown said that fiddling with the bracelet would be a violation of the agreement someone signs when the SCRAM is attached to their ankle.

"It's just like tampering with a urine sample [for a drug test]," she said. "It's the same philosophy with the court."

Similar to a Breathalyzer, the bracelet detects alcohol, but instead of checking a person's breath, it takes samples from perspiration on the skin.

It tests the skin every half an hour and, if alcohol is present, a chemical reaction will take place in the device's fuel cell.

At least once a day, the offender must be close enough to the base station -- a wireless modem -- so that the collected data can be transmitted across phone lines to a site accessible to probation officers.

Brown said the SCRAM can detect almost any level of alcohol consumption, but the system will only alert authorities for blood-alcohol levels of 0.02 or higher.