Can biometric technology help with card not present security

Within the past few years there has been a plethora of security upgrades when it comes to credit card security. That has been great for merchants with physical locations but in a way all it has simply done is to migrate the criminals from the physical store to the virtual store. Online fraud has skyrocketed as the security used with the card to prevent fraud is all but useless when shopping online.

For online transactions the chip in the EMV card is all but useless but another piece of technology could possibly be adapted. Numerous card issuers are circulating a biometric card that uses a person’s fingerprint to authenticate the purchase. There cards could very well end point-of-sale fraud and that has left some wondering if they could be used to help combat online fraud as well.

Biometrics have been applied with more than just credit cards. Some ATM’s have also begun to incorporate fingerprint scanners. It seems that there is now very little chance of a thief stealing one of these cards and being able to use it.

Most people now use smartphones and biometrics are being incorporated into those devices. Fingerprint scanners, facial recognition software and even voice recognition software have become a part of these devices. Conceivably it should not be hard to incorporate these into any transaction done via a smartphone or tablet computer and incorporating it into a laptop shouldn’t be that hard either. The technology already exists and is in common use. Doing so could certainly take a huge bite out of card not present fraud but it will take time to incorporate.

Yes this will certainly make buying something online much more inconvenient, at least to start and it will be something that needs to be phased in over time. Just a simple use of the fingerprint scanner on your smartphone though could verify that you are who you say you are and with information stored could potentially complete the transaction right there with no other details being entered. It can also be done in seconds rather than minutes. That may be well in the future but this could take a huge bite out of credit card fraud in general.

Biometrics are the future and that future is here. In Australia Visa has rolled out a program that will authenticate a purchase using either facial recognition software or a fingerprint scan. A signature or a PIN will no longer be needed for anyone who has a digital wallet and uses a smartphone to make a purchase. With card-not-present fraud in Australia totaling $417.6 million in 2017 a drastic change was necessary. It is probably just a matter of time until this technology expands worldwide. Merchants and consumers take note.