Are selfies the future of mobile payments?

As the e-commerce industry grows, so does the need for secure online payment systems. A common concern among online shoppers, especially in the wireless mobile commerce domain, is sharing personal payment information over the internet. Online merchants have limited ways of confirming a shopper's identity making them more susceptible to fraud. As we reported previously, US retailers' mobile commerce channels faced the highest fraud losses as a percentage of revenue in 2014. Multiple financial services are moving into wireless capabilities, including banking and payments, requiring the same progress of security and identity verification services.

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MasterCard wants to usher in the digital age of payments by allowing shoppers to pay for online purchases with a selfie, reports CNN. Rather than remembering a password (that can be hacked or forgotten), users can make online purchases with just the MasterCard mobile app and their face. Here's how it will work:

• Download the MasterCard phone app.
• Go to the facial recognition option.
• Stare at the phone.
• Blink once.

In an effort to cut down on fraud, MasterCard uses the facial recognition software to create a code based on the user's face that will stay on the device the app is installed on. The company decided to use blinking as the best way to make sure that someone could not just use a picture of the customer to make unsolicited purchases. Users will also have the option to use a fingerprint scan as verification instead. This new feature is currently in the testing phase and MasterCard looks to launch it to the public this coming fall.

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