Cam-Wallet: fingerprint-based authentication in M-wallets using embedded cameras

With the financial technology revolution, the days of bringing out cash from well-crafted leather wallets to make payments have begun to phase out and plastic payment cards are no longer being considered as the future of financial services. An important part of this revolution is mobile wallet, which is an application of m-payment that has features similar to a conventional wallet. As mobile wallets or digital wallets have been transforming the execution of customer to merchant transactions, security remains an important concern. Authentication mechanisms in the form of PINs, passwords and pattern codes have not been sufficient to curb the threats. Most recent attempts to rectify this issue involved the application of capacitance-based biometric. Although these efforts have brought about relatively more secure authentication, not all mobile devices are equipped with capacitance sensors and the high cost of the ones equipped presents a problem. The paper proposes an approach where a camera captured fingerprint sample is employed for customer electronic wallet authentication.