BioPay Announces New Biometric Technology for Securing Financial Transactions

Real-time Data Sharing and Nation's Largest Commercial Electronic Biometric Database Eliminate Check Fraud for Businesses

Herndon, VA — April 29, 2002

Biometric identification leader BioPay, LLC has announced its latest system for securing financial transactions. BioPay 5.0 allows merchants across the United States to share negative customer financial transaction information in real-time, enabling them to stop fraud quickly and easily. The new system offers customers easy enrollment and gives merchants flexible tools for reporting, managing, and sharing data between affiliated stores. And, BioPay's biometric database is the largest commercial electronic biometric database in the nation, giving merchants a vast resource for verifying a customer's check transaction history.

"More than 500 million checks are forged every year and fraud continues to grow at a yearly rate of 2.5 percent," said Tim Robinson, president, BioPay. "We've proven that BioPay can put a real dent in fraudulent activity. The new system broadens our reach to help businesses meet the ultimate goal of stopping fraud."

BioPay 5.0 uses biometric technology to electronically scan a customer's finger, store a template of the finger scan image, and then record check transactions associated with that person. Merchants with multiple stores can share their customer information between different locations. This enables store employees at every affiliated location to retrieve a customer's enrollment information and check transaction history by capturing the customer's finger scan image. There is no need for the customer to enroll again.

Merchants utilizing high-speed Internet access can obtain negative check transaction information real-time. Meaning, a BioPay merchant at one location will be immediately alerted to a fraudulent check from any other BioPay merchant in the country. And, BioPay merchants have access to the nation's largest commercial electronic biometric database to help identify fraud artists and check-bouncers. The database contains finger scan template images from more than 125,000 consumers, and it is growing by more than 20,000 consumers every month.

Highlights of New BioPay 5.0 Features

Some of the new BioPay 5.0 features include:

• Multi-store processing and enrollment enables two or more affiliated stores to retrieve a customer's enrollment information from each other, limiting customer enrollment to one time. Clerks can also retrieve positive or negative customer check cashing history from any affiliated store, including the last five transactions, check cashing limits, and store manager
• Setting velocity options reduces a "runner"'s ability for cashing multiple bad checks during a specified time period. BioPay 5.0 can alert merchants if a person has visited a store more than once in a given day or more than one store in the same day, and determine the number of checks and their amounts the person has cashed in a number of days, weeks, months and years. Warnings will alert merchants if the person exceeds their store-set check cashing limit at a single location or across multiple affiliated locations.
• Expanded customer information allows merchants to capture a customer's birth date and store it in the system, helping merchants to meet Federal regulations for determining the accurate age for customers purchasing cigarettes and alcohol.
• Advanced reporting and tracking capabilities include printing a store's address and phone number on all receipts, enabling customers to easily contact the store that marked them or their check "bad" so the issue can be quickly resolved. Multi-lingual customer decline information helps Spanish-speaking merchants and clerks easily use the BioPay system. "System totals" functionality breaks out the total dollar amount of declined and cashed checks and associated fees charged to consumers.

Customer Enrollment

The process is easy. On initial check presentment, the customer gives the merchant his/her driver's license or other ID for scanning or inputting into the BioPay database. At the same time, the customer's two index fingers are scanned and an electronic photo is taken of the customer. The entire process takes about two minutes and all information is stored within the BioPay system. A repeat customer need only use their registered finger scan image to complete future transactions.

Verifying a Check with BioPay 5.0

When a check is presented, a return customer places their index finger on the finger scanner. The BioPay system searches for a finger scan match, identifies the customer and then delivers to the merchant a history of transactions associated with that person. If the person has any negative transactions, advanced alert mechanisms warn the clerk, enabling the transaction to be declined before it is processed, saving the store money it may have otherwise lost. A customer with a history of positive transactions allows the merchant to cash the check with confidence.

BioPay 5.0 will be available at the end of the second calendar quarter. Current BioPay customers with a monthly service plan can upgrade to BioPay 5.0 for no additional cost.

About BioPay, LLC

Since 1999, BioPay has been providing smart, secure methods for processing financial transactions. Its Paycheck Secure systems help businesses substantially reduce fraud and give consumers a convenient method for cashing checks. BioPay's payment service offers merchants a low-cost form of customer payment and gives consumers a secure, fast and convenient way to pay for purchases. BioPay's patent-pending systems for merchants, banks and financial service organizations have been implemented across the nation. BioPay's value to consumers and merchants has created the nation's largest commercial electronic biometric database. For more information on BioPay and its market-leading products please visit www.biopay.com.