You probably never thought that taking a selfie could be used to make a credit card purchase.
But alas the era where that would be true is upon us if MasterCard‘s facial recognition security pilot program is successful.
This fall, 500 Mastercard customers will be able to confirm their identity with online and mobile merchants by providing their fingerprints and/or facial scan. They wouldn’t need to provide a password or security code.
The initiative was revealed last week on July 1 in a report by CNNMoney. During mobile check-outs, customers would hold up their smartphone and snap a photo of themselves, the story noted.
“The new generation, which is into selfies … I think they’ll find it cool,” Ajay Bhalla, who heads security research for MasterCard, told CNNMoney. “They’ll embrace it.”
MasterCard already has a “SecureCode” service which requires online shoppers to enter a password in order to verify their identity, but this service would eliminate the need to remember a password which could be forgotten, stolen or intercepted.
Read more about the Service HERE.
h/t eweek
