SmartMetric introduces the Biometric Secured Credit Card

By Edlyn Cardoza

The LexisNexis cost of fraud report for 2021 has shown a significant increase since just before COVID-19. Every $1 of fraud costs U.S. merchants $3.60 compared to $3.13 in the pre-COVID period (+15.0%). A significant per cent of identity-related fraud continues to be at the point of sale.

According to the Merchant Risk Council estimates that by the end of 2020, the US saw $11 billion in credit card fraud losses. The US is responsible for one-third of the world’s credit card fraud, and 2020 saw even higher figures than previously. Using the Lexis Nexis true cost of fraud multiplier that considers the total losses experienced by a merchant, this $11 billion in credit card fraud would result in an actual real-life loss to United States merchants of over $39.6 Billion.

The multiplier effect of fraud considers the cost of restocking lost merchandise, staff hours, shipping costs etc. It estimates the total amount of loss a firm incurs based on the actual dollar value of a fraudulent transaction.

As the leader in fingerprint activated biometric credit cards SmartMetric sees 2022 as the year that major credit card issuing Banks around the world will move forward with the adoption of advanced biometric technology-based cards. “Biometric fingerprint activated credit cards is a powerful new weapon in fighting the ongoing war against fraudsters today,” said Chaya Hendrick, President and CEO of SmartMetric.

SmartMetric has created a credit card that has built inside a fingerprint reader that, when you touch a sensor on the surface of the card, scans your fingerprint in less than a second. Your fingerprint is then matched with your pre-stored fingerprint inside the card, and when a match occurs, your card is turned on. Instant secure user validation goes beyond using a PIN in protecting the use of a credit or debit card making a transaction.

What sets the SmartMetric Biometric card solution apart from others is that it is designed with its own internal power source. This enables the card to function and perform the fingerprint scan prior to the card being inserted into a reader. This allows the card to be used at regular ATM’s and in situations where the card is used in places like a restaurant where the card is taken away from the dining table to be processed.

The SmartMetric in-the-card fingerprint scanner allows the cards chip to only work following a successful scan and match 0f the card user’s fingerprint. Unlike other biometric cards, the SmartMetric card does not need the card user to go into a bank branch to have their fingerprint stored on their new biometric card. Instead, the SmartMetric Biometric Card allows the card user to enrol their fingerprint when they first receive it at home, as simple as it is when registering your fingerprint on a smartphone.

Touch and store read once technology developed by SmartMetric for its biometric card allows mass card-issuing financial institutions to issue their cards direct to the consumers as they usually do without the need for consumers to come into a bank branch to activate their new biometric card.