MasterCard to accept selfies as form of ID confirmation

During the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, credit card company MasterCard announced its plan to start verifying customers’ ID by using selfies when making online transactions.

The feature was tested last year in the USA and Netherlands, and proved successful, with 92% of users saying they preferred this form of security check to the usual.

Of course when making online payments, those paying with MasterCard will still have to input their credit card details as they normally would, however during the authentication process, they will be asked to take a picture of themselves and blink (in order to not trick the camera by just holding up a photo).

Users who don’t wish to verify their identity with a selfie can opt to use their fingerprint.

The company has announced that the feature will be introduced in the UK, Canada, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark in summer 2016.

Source: BBC