The ever increasing number of shoplifting incidents is forcing retailers to turn to facial biometrics as a security measure. According to Recfaces, a facial biometrics specialist, this has yielded impressive results: store owners confirm that such security systems identify thieves by their face and cite a reduction in theft-related losses between 50 and 90%. Modern facial recognition systems employ advanced algorithms that both ensure data privacy and adhere to international GDPR regulations.

The National Retail Federation approximates the average loss per theft incident in a store at $462, with organised robberies amounting to nearly $7,500. Furthermore, data from the British Retail Consortium, as reported by the Daily Mail, reveals an alarming increase in store theft incidents, soaring from 3 million cases in 2016-2017 to 8 million in 2022.

The security system project at the Jockey Plaza in Curitiba, was a collaboration between Francaza, a Brazilian integrator, and Recfaces, a facial biometrics solution developer. To enhance the security of the shopping centre, automate security operations, and expedite crime investigations, they chose to employ Recfaces' Id-Guard facial identification software. Id-Guard seamlessly integrates with the video surveillance and video analytics systems, offering biometric identification, real-time and retrospective face search within video streams, and stoplisting capabilities.

"The moment a person on the stop-list enters the camera's field of view, the operator is immediately notified. Based on our experience, implementation of Id-Guard saves security specialists time as they no longer have to spend hours sifting through video footage when investigating incidents," says Cristiano J S Maffessoni, Francaza’s CIO.

According to Cristiano J S Maffessoni, the payback period for the Jockey Plaza shopping centre project is less than 3 years thanks to 50% cut in shoplifting instances, swift resolution of crimes, and increased efficiency of security services. The return on investment for biometric systems typically spans 1 to 3 years, depending on the crime rate in the vicinity of the shopping centre. To calculate effectiveness, it is necessary to evaluate average loss per incident, the average number of similar incidents annually, and the incident reduction rate, generally fluctuating between 30% and 70%, based on the security service's efficacy.

Maria Kazhuro, Recfaces' BDM in Latin America, shares, "Recfaces has developed two lines of ready-to-use biometric solutions specifically designed for the security and retail sectors. We've seen an immense demand for our ready-made solutions in Latin America, thanks to their quick and easy deployment on any equipment. Our solutions allow customers to identify offenders, instantly respond to incidents, conduct marketing research, and foster customer loyalty."

Recfaces' Id-Guard, a biometric ready-to-use solution, stores only biometric templates - feature vectors that cannot be reconstructed into facial images - in its database. This data storage method adheres to international GDPR data protection regulations and is supplemented by AES-256 standard encryption mechanisms for critical data.