Pay with your face: MasterCard to launch ‘selfie pay’

There's one thing cooler than using your fingerprint to help make a purchase, and that's using your face.

Wait, even cooler? Using both.

Credit card giant MasterCard has announced that over the next few months it will roll out "selfie pay" and fingerprint technology to verify customers' identifications when purchasing goods and services online, according to CNN Money.

The way it works is you'll download a MasterCard app on your smartphone, and when you make a purchase you'll be prompted to take a selfie or scan your fingerprint. If you take a photo, the app will require you to blink to make sure it was not taken beforehand, according to CNN.

President of Enterprise Security Solutions at MasterCard Ajay Bhalla tells the website that selfies and fingerprints are safer to use than passwords, which can be hacked.

The technology was first tested in late summer and fall by more than 200 employees of First Tech Federal Credit Union in the U.S., according to Paste BN. A similar trial took place in the Netherlands.

Sam Lisker is a student at Ithaca College and a Paste BN College digital producer.

This story originally appeared on the Paste BN College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.