Face-recognition are widely used despite safety concerns

Speakers: Li Ningjing, Sam Duckett and Lu Sirui

[Photo: Baidu.com]

A Chinese expert is warning consumers, that face scanners on ATMs, while being convenient, might not be totally secure.

The warning came after Chinese banks began to install the technology in their cash machines.

Agricultural Bank of China has just announced that it has installed facial scanning technologies in its cash machines around the country.

HSBC also said recently that it was offering facial scanning functions on its mobile bank app, making mobile payments safer and more convenient.

In 2016, China Merchants Bank installed the facial scanning function in thousands of its cash machines in 106 cities.

But Qin An, director of the China Institute of Cyberspace Strategy, warned "the facial scanning technology could bring great convenience to daily life, but there are still risks and hidden hazards."

He said criminals could use fake simulation masks to imitate human facial characters to steal information or money using 3D-printing technologies. In addition, it would also infringe upon users' privacy if the biometric data bank was hacked.

China's facial scanning and recognition market has reached more than 1 billion yuan in 2016 and is estimated to reach 5.1 billion yuan by 2021.

The audio clip is from Studio+, produced by CRI.