Facial recognition payments just around the corner, but is it a safe mode of transaction

Nowadays most people have stopped making cash transactions and currently prefer paying digitally via credit, debit cards or via UPI. While this is the present, Netherland-based VisionLabs is betting on facial recognition payments for the future. If facial recognition payments manage to take off, you not be required to carry a smartphone, bank card, or any form of identification.

According to a market report by Juniper Research, the number of users securing payments via software-based facial recognition will exceed 1.4 billion globally by 2025 compared to just 671 million in 2020.

Facial recognition payments

VisionLabs recently launched its LUNA POS Terminal, which scans the customer’s face and sends the data to the payment service provider or bank for identification. After this, an algorithm then identifies whether the customer is genuine and then provides a verdict of transaction success or failure.

The facial recognition system has endpoints, which measure certain variables of a face like width or length of the nose, space between eyes and depth of eye sockets, and even the contour of the cheekbones.

To make payments using facial recognition, customers will have to link their facial data to their bank accounts. After this, customers can simply scan their faces on a screen mounted on the payment terminal and make the payment directly without the need for any additional steps like putting in the card password.

Safety concerns

One of the major questions that will arise is that is the technology safe. Many people have questioned that the technology can easily be tricked by scammers, or what happens when people with similar faces access the account. Other people are concerned about their privacy as their faceprints can be used for surveillance purposes.

In an interview with The Indian Express, VisionLabs stated that “it is much more expensive to spoof the face recognition system compared to well-known credit card fraud approaches.” It also added that with facial recognition payments the identity of the customer will be confirmed in real-time, whereas, payments with contactless cards do not have any such authentications in place.

The Indian Express report also states that the company “does not save any facial data and will never capture any faces without consent from the customer and authorisation from the terminal operator.”

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