MasterCard is experimenting with a smartphone app which will allow people to confirm their identity and authenticate online transactions via a facial scan. After downloading the app, users, at checkout, will be asked to hold up their phone to stare and blink at it.

"The new generation, which is into selfies...They'll embrace it," said Ajay Bhalla, security expert at MasterCard.

Currently, users can set up something called "SecureCode", which requires a password when shopping online. However, passwords can be forgotten, stolen, or intercepted. MasterCard is set to launch a small pilot programme involving 500 people that uses fingerprints, but also facial scans to verify online transactions.

MasterCard's security researchers believe blinking is the best way to prevent a thief from just holding up a picture of a person and fooling the system. It said it does not actually get a picture of the user's finger or face. All fingerprint scans will create a code that stays on the device.

The facial recognition scan will map out a user's face, convert it to 1s and 0s and transmit that over the net to MasterCard. Bhalla said MasterCard is also experimenting with voice recognition, so people may be able to simply approve an online transaction by speaking to their phone and also with a person's heart beat.