Users of the system to pay for travel by a person in the Moscow metro are repeatedly charged money

VTB and Rostelecom launched payment for trips in the Moscow metro in the face

Main article: TB and Rostelecom launched payment for trips in the Moscow metro in the face

2022: Multiple System Debits

As it became known on January 12, 2022, money is repeatedly debited from users of the system to pay for a person in the Moscow metro. The bank VTB responsible for payment operations confirmed the problem and promised to return the money.

On the morning of January 12, 2022, during the planned work in the authorization systems of VTB Bank, some users of the Mosmetro application had incorrect debits. Today [January 12] until 20.00 all incorrect write-offs will return. We sincerely apologize and want to hand over small souvenirs to everyone with whom this happened, "the message says on the bank's website.

Users of the system to pay for travel by a person in the Moscow metro are repeatedly charged money

Victims are asked to contact by e-mail. According to the Moscow News Telegram channel, some users of the Face Pay system, which is used to pay for travel to the Moscow metro using a face image, were charged money in multiple payments of 23 rubles. VTB did not name the total amount of incorrectly debited funds.

These are not the first user complaints about Face Pay. In January 2022, a member of the Human Rights Council (HRC) Igor Ashmanov said that his friend was fined 3 thousand rubles for the absence of a mask. The fine allegedly came from a photo taken by Face Pay. The press service of the metropolitan metro replied that this is impossible, since the system does not know how to compare a photo of a person with his personal data. Moreover, she does not have the authority to issue fines.

Encrypted biometric data is stored on secure metro servers in a closed loop. Payment data is stored exclusively on the bank side. The metro strictly complies with current legislation and uses the data of passengers who connected to Face Pay only for their intended purpose - to pay for travel to the metro using facial recognition - concluded in the press service of the Moscow metro.

From January 1, 2022, the payment for travel on the Troika card and on the bank card increased by 5 and 4 rubles, respectively. The fare on Face Pay remained unchanged - 46 rubles.^[1][2]

2021

2 thousand people detained using a facial recognition system in the Moscow metro

Moscow Metro Since September 1, 2020 biometric facial recognition , the Sphere system has been operating. With its help, metropolitan law enforcement officers detained 2032 criminals, which became known on December 29, 2021.

The system uses technology that converts the image of the face of a person who passed through the turnstile into a unique biometric key-vector. The system is used by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB and the FSIN, where it is associated with federal and operational search databases updated every hour. The metropolitan authorities provide law enforcement officers with access to the system.

Also, thanks to the system, police officers said that they caught a person who changed his name, surname, year of birth. The system recognized and helped detain him, he was wanted for many years for a serious crime.^[3]

Police mistook Muscovites who paid for the passage to the subway face for stowaways and forced them to pay again

On October 22, 2021, it became known that the police mistook Muscovites who paid for the passage to the metro face for stowaways. Law enforcement officers forced passengers to pay for the fare again.

The police mistook the residents of Moscow, who paid for the passage to the metro face, for stowaways and forced to re-pay the fare

According to the Telegram channel "Caution, News," the incident occurred at the Prague station. A couple faced problems. The couple passed the turnstiles using a facial recognition system - behind each other, the doors between them did not close. And this immediately attracted the attention of the police. According to the passenger, they did not introduce themselves, behaved boorishly, did not want to listen to anything about FacePay.

Her husband obeyed, then, according to the girl, a police officer said that they were violators and would be fined 2.5 thousand rubles for unpaid travel. The couple tried to explain that both went through "face payment."

At first, Elena thought that this was some kind of draw and tried to leave, but at that moment his colleague joined the law enforcement officer, the police demanded that they pay for the fare.

Tired of arguing, the couple returned to the turnstiles. The couple, having decided that they had already lost a lot of time and were already late for work, re-paid the fare. After that, they left a complaint against the police, an audit was launched, the publication says.

Subsequently, the capital Deptrans reacted to this news and announced his version of what happened:

On October 20, 2021, the girl passed the Face Pay metro, and her husband followed her without payment. The police rightly demanded that the man pay for the fare. The girl decided to go another way and published a video with a statement about unfair treatment by police officers: allegedly they and her husband passed using biometrics. This girl was Elena S., an employee of the subway. That morning at Prague, she really entered the biometrics station. It is worth noting that metro employees pass at the station only by biometrics: the service is used instead of a personal contactless card, personal for each employee. But her husband, who is not a mosmetro employee, "slipped" through the turnstiles after her. This is clearly visible in the image from the cameras. Therefore, the police officer rightly demanded that he pay for the fare.

^[4]

Muscovites began to hand over biometrics for payment in the metro

October 15, 2021 at all metro stations in Moscow earned fare using the Face Pay facial recognition system. In the first 3 days, 30 thousand people loaded data into this system, which can correspond to more than 1% of passengers. The fact that Muscovites began to actively hand over biometrics to pay for travel in person, Kommersant was told in the State Unitary Enterprise Moscow Metro.

They said that by mid-October 2021 the system is available at 240 stations (excluding the MCC, IDC and monorail), and in the next two to three years 10-15% of passengers will use Face Pay.

Muscovites began to hand over biometrics for payment in the metro

Visionlabs has become a technological partner of the Face Pay project in the Moscow metro. The company assured that the system recognizes a person even with partial facial overlap, for example, with glasses, medical masks and headgear.

The Deputy Mayor of Moscow on questions transportamaksy Liksutov in a conversation with the newspaper said that at implementation of the project all requirements of the legislation regarding storage and processing of personal data are fulfilled.

We do not store images of faces. The biometric data of Face Pay users is automatically converted into an encrypted biometric key. These keys are generated so that reverse decryption into an image is impossible, "he says.

The use of computer vision increases the security of the payment process, they assure Visionlabs. The biometric identifier cannot be lost or forgotten, which means that the possibility of its use by third parties is excluded. Liveness algorithms help protect against spoofing attacks, which solve the problem of verifying a living person and counter non-software attacks in the form of masks, images or videos on the phone.

The probability that the system confuses people is very low, said Artem Romanov, an expert on Krok security systems. According to him, a fairly long response time of the system is primarily associated with improving the reliability of recognition and eliminating errors.^[5]

Launch at all Moscow metro stations

A test face payment system has been launched at all Moscow metro stations. This was reported by the press service of the metropolitan subway on September 20, 2021.

You can walk through Face Pay in the metro through turnstiles, where there is a round black sticker on the floor. On the Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya and Nekrasovskaya lines, the action "Early Time" is also valid for Face Pay testers (travel 23 rubles instead of 46).

To pay for travel using facial recognition, it will be enough for a passenger to register with a mobile application, upload a photo of his face and link a bank card or Troika. As a result, when passing through the turnstile, a person looks into the camera, the system finds his picture, matches it with his face and misses it. The money is deducted from the card automatically. You can opt out of testing at any time.

Face Pay test fare system launched at all Moscow metro stations

14 lines and 241 metro stations are connected to the Face Pay service. Moscow has become the first city in the world where the facial recognition service for fare is used on this scale. Today, the final stage of testing has begun, according to the results of which we will be ready to launch an innovative service for all metro passengers, "said Maxim Liksutov, head of the Department of Transport and Development of Road Transport Infrastructure of the city.

According to him, by September 2021, the possibility of launching the Face Pay service on the Moscow Central Ring and Moscow Central Diameters, ground transport and ground transport is being worked out. In addition, it is planned to start the discount system.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin previously said that Face Pay will be available on all metro lines in October 2021 (by September 20, the last 5 lines were connected to the system).

According to Kommersant, citing its sources, the first tests showed that the facial recognition system passes passengers faster than the traditional turnstile with transport cards.^[6]

Detection by smart video surveillance system of 221 offenders on the wanted list

The Sphere facial recognition system helped find wanted offenders and lost people in the Moscow metro, the Moscow Department of Transport reported on August 13, 2021.

In July 2021, with the help of smart video surveillance, 221 people were found. Most of them are wanted people caught by intellectual cameras in the capital's subway. So, on July 25, a man was detained at the Bratislavskaya station using this system, who is accused of murder.

Another important task of the Sphere is the search for missing persons. In a month, the system helped to find 35 people, of which 12 were children.

Инфографика — пресс-служба Департамента transport Moscow

The technology transforms the face of a passenger who passed through the turnstile into a unique biometric key. If a person is wanted, the system will immediately notify the police. All fixations of persons of other metro passengers are protected by encryption and remain 100% anonymous. Data is stored in an information processing center, which only law enforcement agencies have access to.

As of August 2021, payment for travel using the FacePay system is being tested in the Moscow metro.^[7]

2020

Liksutov: Payment for facial recognition in the metro will be launched in 2021

On December 3, 2020, the launch dates for the facial recognition system for paying for travel in the Moscow metro became known. According to the Deputy Mayor of Moscow concerning a transportamaksim Liksutov, the technology will earn in 2021.

This will definitely be next year. Already, on our employees, we are testing this system with two large Russian banks, they already have a facial recognition system, Liksutov said on the air of the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

He specified that the metro will give only infrastructure related to biometrics, and personal payment data will be stored in banks. At the same time, facial recognition can work, even if the passenger is wearing a mask. According to Liksutov, on all the turnstiles of the capital's subway and the Moscow Central Ring (MCC) there are already cameras that recognize faces.

Maxim Liksutov said that payment for facial recognition metro travel will be launched in 2021

Our system will allow you to recognize your face, and if you are connected to a bank card where your biometric data is available, then you will pass with an open turnstile, "the deputy mayor explained.

Earlier, the deputy head of the State Duma Committee on Transport and Construction, Alexander Starovoitov, opposed paying for travel through facial recognition, since this can be used to interfere with privacy. In his opinion, while there is no reliable mechanism for protecting personal data, as well as consent to add human biometrics to the transport database, it is not worth using such systems.

Maxim Liksutov also said that the metropolitan authorities are actively negotiating with Apple to add the Troika transport card to pay for travel in all types of transport in Moscow to the Wallet payment system. According to Liksutov, the American company promised that the Troika will be one of the first transport cards in the system in the world.^[8]

Start testing the facial recognition fare system at all Moscow metro stations

On September 2, 2020, the Moscow Department of Transport announced the test launch of a facial recognition system to pay for travel at all stations of the Moscow metro. One of the test stages will last about a month.

In the near future, the system will actively develop in terms of services for passengers. In particular, the entry of the FacePay system - with the help of it it will be possible to pay for travel through a person's scan. Now we are checking it with our banking partners. We plan to complete one of the test stages by October 1 - and immediately tell about the interim results, the department said.

The beginning of testing of the fare system by facial recognition in the Moscow metro

In addition, the Moscow authorities expect that video surveillance will help track train congestion. Information will go to city mobile applications so passengers can choose the most free cars, which is important in the current epidemiological conditions.

Also, a video surveillance system will help track train congestion. The information will be transmitted to the applications so that the passenger can choose the most free cars.

As an example, the Department of Transport cites the Beijing Metro, where cameras identify people who need medical care (for example, fainted). It is planned to introduce such a system in the future in Moscow.

According to Kommersant, the full-fledged launch of the facial recognition system in the subway may be delayed: this follows from the tender documentation for the supply of cameras and servers for the subway.

By the beginning of September 2020, about 5 thousand cameras with a facial recognition function are operating at subway stations, and it takes several seconds to identify one person in the passenger stream. 105 thousand "camera streams" are connected to the city video analytics system (in total there are more than 175 thousand video cameras in the capital), and law enforcement agencies are engaged in the search for offenders with their help.^[9]

Purchase of CCTV cameras for 1.4 billion rubles

July 21, 2020 it became known that the Moscow metro will purchase cameras with a facial recognition system in the amount of 1.39 billion rubles. The equipment will be installed in 1,500 cars, according to materials on the public procurement website. More details here.

2019

A face and palm pass system has been launched in the Moscow metro

On December 18, 2019, it became known about the launch in the Moscow Metro Biometric Identification (by facial and palm recognition) of employees for passage and admission to the premises. This is a pilot project of the Association of Financial Technologies (AFT) and the Bank of Russia. More details here.

How the facial recognition system works in the Moscow metro

On September 11, 2019, it became known about the launch of the facial recognition system to pay for travel at the Sukharevskaya station of the Moscow metro.

According to TASS in the press service of Sberbank (participating in the pilot project, which is carried out jointly with VisionLabs), to pay for travel, passengers need to download a mobile application on the phone and go through the registration procedure: take a selfie and enter bank card data.

Facial recognition system for subway fare

After that, it will be enough to enter the zone next to the turnstile, marked by a black circle, and look into the camera near the validator. The platform recognizes the passenger's face, opens the turnstile flaps and writes off the necessary fare from the card.

To pay for travel, the money is debited through the acquiring of Sberbank. The system will freeze the cost of the trip (42 rubles) on the account to ensure that the linked card is valid.

According RIA Novosti to the head of the department transport Moscow Maxim Liskutov, in order to use the service, metro users will need to pre-enter their biometric data into the system.

According to Liskutov, this is a complex project designed for the long term. Before its full-scale launch, it is necessary to conduct testing at rush hour and at stations with little traffic.

I think that by the end of next year we can talk about some results and pilot implementation on an ongoing basis, "he said.

If the pilot project is successful, then the fare system using biometric data will be installed at all stations of the Moscow Metro, and in the future on all types of public transport in the capital and in other cities of Russia, specified in Sberbank. Maxim Liskutov emphasized that it will not be possible to introduce technology in the metro as quickly as bank cards and Troika cards. ^[10]

Smart surveillance cameras on turnstiles

On April 11, 2019, it became known about the appearance of smart CCTV cameras on turnstiles in the Moscow metro. The facial recognition system was launched at the Oktyabrskoye Pole station.

Cameras are located on turnstile racks at the adult face level. When you read a ticket, the camera lights up a green signal. Cameras are installed on turnstiles operating both at the entrance and at the exit.

As a source in the IT market told RBC, the biometric identification technology was developed by VisionLabs. Its head, Alexander Khanin, confirmed this information and noted that by the time of launch, the cameras were designed "only to ensure safety." At the same time, Hanin did not explain the functionality of the development.

Turnstiles of the Moscow metro began to use the facial recognition system

The decision on the final configuration and architecture of the project, the procedure for its implementation and the timing of work has not yet been made, a representative of the metropolitan metro told the publication.

He also added that "several of the best Russian IT companies are connected to the pilot."

A RBC source said that an identical turnstile is installed in the main office of Sberbank and is designed to test the access system using face recognition.

It is easy to set up a facial recognition system to pay for travel, but it must be connected to the Unified Biometric System (EBS), says Timur Aitov, deputy general director of Software Product (developing ticket systems for suburban communications and metro). By April 11, 2019, the EBS registered an insufficient number of users for the mass use of biometrics in the metro, the expert said.

The publication recalls that the possibility of using biometrics when paying for travel in the Moscow metro has been discussed for several years. It is necessary to introduce such systems in public transport accurately to make integration comfortable for passengers and not to frighten them, the deputy director Analiticheskogo credit rating agentstvaaleksandr Gushchin believes.^[11] 

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