New credit card program reads numbers through camera

While there are now a number of services that allow businesses to process credit card debt without consumers having to swipe their cards, a new company says it has taken the next step in protecting borrowers from fraud when doing so.

The online payment processing service Jumio will soon launch a program that allows consumers to make a swipeless payment simply by holding their credit or debit card up to a camera, according to a report from the tech news agency GigaOm. The video image of the card is streamed, encrypted, to the company's servers and software determines where the payment information is located. However, consumers will still have to enter their security code manually.

But what separates Jumio, which will soon launch a mobile version of the service as well, from its competitors is that it can tell the difference between a copy of a credit card and a real one, the report said. This is because the software can detect the raised letters on an actual card.

Security, or at least the perception that this process is somehow less secure, is seen as one of the major hurdles for widespread acceptance of mobile credit card payment processing.