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Bitcoin scams on social media can be solved with facial recognition technology

Facial recognition is one possible solution against Bitcoin scams spreading on social media.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Tue, 11 Aug 2020, 07:18 am UTC

Various cryptocurrency scams have been making their rounds on social media and video sharing platforms lately. For instance, hackers hijacked several high-profile Twitter accounts and used them to spread a YouTube Bitcoin (BTC) scam that tried to trick people into sending their crypto funds to a wallet.

As criminals get more high-tech in setting up their schemes, some people suggest that one way to combat cryptocurrency scams is to use top-of-the-line technology. Rod Hsu, president and co-founder of the cryptocurrency platform Coincurve, believes that facial recognition technology could be employed to combat Bitcoin scam, according to Cointelegraph.

Hsu noted that the scam artists are attracted to Bitcoin because it is somewhat anonymous and non-reversible. However, the various scams became negative publicity for digital currencies that they might have discouraged some people from using crypto.

“Due to the nature of this, people may see scams and Bitcoin being synonymous,” Rod Hsu said. “In either traditional payment methods or Bitcoin, it's up to the individual to understand the situation and determine its legitimacy. With more public awareness of these schemes and education on Bitcoin, we hope to decouple that negative association.”

Thus, it is necessary to stamp out Bitcoin fraud. For Hsu, facial recognition technology is one possible solution as it is “much more advanced than simply a photo image.”

“We have seen a light version of facial recognition where not only does a consumer provide their identification, but also they perform a Liveness check which takes multiple angles of a person's profile,” Coincurve’s president explained. “This adds a layer of difficulty if someone is attempting to use another person's payment instrument.”

However, Hsu is also aware that there are potential issues of facial recognition that need to be threshed out before implementation. “I think the ethics surrounding facial recognition boils down to consent and security,” he commented on the issue on privacy. “With consent, the user must be aware, provide consent, and be in control, of how the data is being stored, shared, used, and accessed as well as the ability to remove it at any time.”

It is also necessary to keep the data used in facial recognition secured. “With security, this relates to how that data is stored and safety protocols implemented,” Hsu said. “These requirements may shift based on the age of the end-user as well.”

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