Technology has changed and is changing the face of digital payments. Nowadays, we can pay for products and services through several mediums like POS, online transfers, ATM cards, biometric payments, and more. However, these new methods of performing financial transactions not only make it easier for us to conduct business but also open the door to new waves of fraud, scams, and digital theft. 

Since technology continues to advance, fraud and other forms of malpractice will always evolve to match new models and systems. In this article, we explore the role biometric verification plays in helping you receive payments safely and protect your business from fraud.

What is Biometric Payment?

Biometric payment is a point-of-sale (POS) technology that uses a customer's physical characteristics to identify them and authorize financial transactions. Not only are biometrics a significantly faster payment method than PINs, but they also offer a more convenient and delightful user experience. Biometrics is also a more secure payment method than ATM PINs which can be stolen.

What Are the Types of Biometric Verification Payment and How Do They Work?

Here is a list of the most promising methods of biometric payments and how they work:

• Fingerprint Verification Payment

A customer registers for a biometric card payment program, and their fingerprint data is stored on a card. When performing a transaction, the customer places their finger on the card's sensor, which checks if the scanned print matches the print stored in the card. If the fingerprints match, the transaction is approved, and the customer does not need to provide a PIN.

Fingerprint payments are currently the most widely used form of biometric payment.

• Facial Verification Payment

A buyer takes a picture or video of their face, then a facial recognition algorithm checks if the facial data matches the information in its database. The transaction is either blocked based on the result of the verification process.

Facial payments are very convenient because all the customer needs is a good camera, adequate lighting, and to hold their smartphone to their face. A Juniper Research study estimates that facial recognition technology will be present in over 800 million phones by 2024. 

• Voice Verification Payment 

With voice payment, a customer speaks to an AI-powered device, like a speaker or a smartphone, and initiates a transaction using a spoken command. Voice payment works with natural language processing (NLP), a branch of AI that enables computers to learn, understand and act on vocal commands. 

Voice assistants such as Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa utilize AI-enhanced voice recognition technology to respond to vocal commands.

How Does Biometric Verification Protect Digital Payments from Fraud?

Biometric verification offers greater security than knowledge-based verification methods like passwords or secret questions because biometrics can't be stolen, guessed, or hacked. Likewise, they cannot be easily forged, copied, or stolen like passports and other ID documents. 

Verifying a user's identity with inherent characteristics like their voice or fingerprints provides a greater level of security than other verification strategies.

Beyond the heightened security that biometrics bring, they also increase the number of users you can verify per time. Passports, driver's licenses, and other documents may expire or get lost, and users can always forget their passwords. However, you can always access their biometric information with ease. 

The Benefits of Securing Payments with Biometrics 

These are some reasons why you should consider using biometrics to secure digital payments from fraud. 

• Greater Accuracy

Biometrics provides a greater range of accurate results compared to other identity verification methods. It has low false acceptance and false rejection rates, meaning the verification results are more accurate.

• Extremely Difficult to Forge

The uniqueness of biometric data makes them difficult to forge, which means they are a reliable method of protecting against potential fraud. 

• Reduced Abandonment Rate

The low friction of biometric verification means more users complete the customer onboarding and identity verification process. Users favor biometrics because of how accessible they are and the level of ease they provide.

• More Convenient for Users

Biometric verification is highly convenient because it does not require any other information than the user themselves. Biometrics present little or no friction to users, which makes the verification process more seamless.

Compared to other identity verification methods, biometrics provides users with a higher level of usability and simplicity. 

Mitigate Payment Fraud with Dojah's Biometric Solution

Explore Dojah's AI-powered biometric solutions that include video verification, liveness checks, and selfie verification to boost the security of your products and business. Beyond biometrics, you can also consider the other identity verification solutions Dojah provides, including document and address verification.

Start verifying your users with ease today. Contact us if you have any questions or schedule a demo session.

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