Tourist loses his mind over futuristic cashless payment in China – but not everyone’s convinced

A British tourist was amazed by the latest technology in China after paying for a packet of crisps with his hand in a convenience store.

The new technology, called PalmPay, allows people to make payments by simply holding their hand over a sensor equipped with an infrared camera.

This sensor analyzes both the unique palm print and the vein pattern under the skin, allowing for safe and easy palm prints.

Traveling couple Ben and Reanne Dridge experienced the futuristic technology while visiting Zhuhai, China, and shared a video on social media.

“We’re in China, and this is how advanced cash payments are in this country,” Dridge said in the clip, which has been viewed more than two million times.

At the counter, Mr Dridge held his hand over a terminal and paid for a packet of crisps without tapping his bank card, phone or cash.

“Wherever you are in the world, you can pay with your palmprint,” Ms Dridge said.

‘How smart is that? It’s literally one of the best things I’ve ever seen.’

Mr Dridge added: ‘China lives so far in the future it is incomprehensible.’

The advanced technology scans palm prints and vein patterns to enable fast, secure and cashless payments.

Travelers who do not want to use the technology still have the option to pay by card, telephone or cash.

Tencent, the developer of the technology, is confident it will become more mainstream.

The palm technology can also be used to unlock doors in homes and workplaces and to pay for public transport.

“The application scenarios may be a little different,” Tencent’s Guo Rizen told CNN. “We hope that palm payments can save people the trouble of carrying physical items, making our lives easier.”

However, security experts warn that the system could face major security risks.

‘Retailers are constantly being hacked. When most retailers get hacked, the worst-case scenario is to change your credit card number,” Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, previously told the MIT Technology Review.

Palm recognition technology can also unlock homes and workplaces and pay for public transport, making everyday life easier

“But you can’t change your palm print if it’s in danger.

“So we see this as a way for people to potentially save a few minutes in lines for the rest of their lives at the expense of their biometric privacy.”

Edward Santow, professor of responsible technology at UTS, also offered some words of caution.

‘If your personal data is vacuumed up on a large scale, it creates a kind of honeypot for cybercriminals.

“And if that information is obtained illegally, it can be sold on the black market and that can cause enormous problems.”