WeChat makes facial recog payment systems talk to the hand

Chinese microblogging site WeChat has launched the ability to make payments by swiping the palm of a hand over facial recognition devices. After binding a WeChat account to the device and putting a palm print on record, users simply wave at a camera-embedded scanning surface to complete a purchase. The system recognizes the …

[Joe W]

Brush?

Surely it's "wax on, wax off"?

[Anonymous Coward]

No thanks..

.. I'll stick with the real thing from Fujitsu. Those do deep scanning. Cost a fortune, but if what you're protecting is valuable it's possibly worth it.

Personally I think that biometrics pretty much force a 3FA approach: something you have, something you are and something you know..

[CommonBloke]

I wonder who asked for this

Snarky but honest ponder. I can picture some people wanting to "magically wave away a payment", but I doubt they also meant using their own money to pay for it. The people who are likely to adopt this on their own volition are undoubtedly the same people that feel safe waving their phones over another machine to pay for stuff, confirmations and security be damned.

[plunet]

Re: I wonder who asked for this

Have you been to China? Using facial recognition for payment authorisation is not uncommon in shops kitted out with the relevent point of sale equipment.

They might not have asked for it, but its there, and it does get used, although I think it hit considerable problems with the masks the mandate for which were not removed earlier this year.

QR codes are still the main way to pay, but biometrics are there and are being used for day to day payments.

[Blackjack]

So better never wave "Hi!" in public or they will use that to scam money from you?

Contactless payments are already a scammer favourite, since they can steal money from cards still inside letters, and now all they need is for you to wave your hand?