“Let me take a selfie.” I’m sure we’ve all heard this statement several times by now. After all, selfies are all the rage nowadays. Now this global fad is becoming a payment method! The major payment and technology company, Mastercard, is adapting selfie technology and transforming it into a new, secure form of payment.
If you’re like me, the idea of taking a selfie to pay for something sounds a little strange. However, upon further reading I quickly found that this payment method may wholly benefit an array of individuals with disabilities. The payment method may benefit individuals who:
- Have poor motor skills
- Are amputees
- Have visual impairments
- And much more!
How to use Mastercard’s “Identity Check Mobile” or “Selfie Pay”:
- Simply download the Identity Check Mobile App.
- Take a photo of your face, this way the service can create a digitized map of your face.
- Your face is then securely stored on Mastercard’s servers.
- It is necessary to store your “selfie” so the service has a reference point for when you’d like to make a new purchase online.
Here’s where I had my reservations. “Couldn’t someone just print a picture of me and take a picture of that printed image?” Fortunately, the app will require you to blink before confirming each transaction. This will confirm that the human is in fact taking a selfie, and not just an image of someone.
Mastercard claims their new payment system will speed up the checkout process for users shopping online, as it will replace users having to remember and type out their long-winded passwords.
The new payment system is already rolling out in Europe: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. Mastercard says the technology will be available “across the globe” starting in 2017.