Visa wants to track your smartphone to combat fraud

Visa has announced a new method of detecting and combating fraud for its users that matches your purchases to the location of your smartphone. Starting later this year, Visa users will be able to turn on location tracking through their mobile apps that will enable Visa to cross-check your purchases to your location. 

Today’s banks and credit card providers have a number of sophisticated methods to detect fraud, but Visa has a new approach that will match your purchases to your phone’s location. MasterCard, meanwhile, announced plans to authenticate users via facial and voice recognition and fingerprint matching. Starting in April, Visa credit card issuers will be able to add location tracking to their mobile apps. Install the app, turn on location information, and Visa will be able to cross-check your purchases to your location before it shuts down an account for suspected fraud activity. The actual matching will be done by mobile identity firm Finsphere, and you can shut it off at any time.