Brazilian consumer rights body Idec has notified the country’s social security technology firm over its plans to procure biometric technology for use in the social security system.
The country’s Social Security Technology and Information Company (Dataprev) is looking to introduce a mobile platform that integrates features including facial recognition technology in order to reduce fraud and simplify processes.
The technology will be used to replace procedures such as the “proof of life”, whereby citizens, often elderly or with reduced mobility, have to physically attend a social security center or a bank branch to prove they are alive.
While making the process easier for citizens, the idea is to reduce false claims, where relatives of deceased people continue to receive their benefits. The Brazilian government wants to save up to 9 billion reais ($2.1 billion) in 2019, with initiatives specifically related to reducing benefit fraud.