St. Louis (KSDK) - Many people take selfies just to be silly, but soon we may be taking them for shopping safety.
Five on your Side's Mike Rush has an exclusive look at selfie pay before it hits the market. Right now, MasterCard is testing its selfie pay app with a small group of people in California. It's not available to you and me, but I am able to show you how it works.
"The fact of the matter is our objective is very simple which is to bring peace of mind," said Edgar Aguilar with MasterCard.
Mike recently met with him at MasterCard's Global Technology Headquarters in O'Fallon, Mo. Using an app that's not yet available to the public, he simulated purchasing something on his smart phone. When it came time to seal the deal, Mike used Aguilar's phone to verify his identity with a selfie. But his phone did not recognize Mike and the purchase was rejected. When he took his own picture, it worked.
The company is in the testing phase with groups in California and the Netherlands, but the technology has a hometown tie.
"No question about it, the St. Louis technology headquarters plays a major role in bringing this to life," said Aguilar.
The company is also testing fingerprint and voice recognition technology. The selfie tests run through the rest of this month. No word on when it will be available to the public.
