The Chinese capital's police will equip ATM machines with a face recognition system to detect criminal suspects and prevent cash withdrawal frauds.

More than 1,000 bank ATMs will be linked to the police emergency response network, known to the public as hotline 110, by the end of October, according to the local police authorities.

Experts are exploring the possibility of including the face recognition technology, a branch of biometrics which identifies people through their unique physical features, in the network.

"The technology is supposed to scan your face when you're in front of the screen taking out money and automatically riffle through a database of wanted criminals or suspects," said an official with the Beijing Public Security Bureau.

"It will set off an alarm through the 110 network if it finds a genuine match," said the official.

People will not be able to shelter from surveillance behind sunglasses and other forms of camouflage, he added.

According to the official, all 3,000-plus ATMs in the city will be hooked into the network in one year.

A light in police monitoring headquarters will turn red if an ATM breaks down and the network will help them quickly determine the reason, he said.

Beijing had issued more than 58.9 million bank cards by the end of June, and card spending at point-of-sales (POS) machines amounted to 97.2 billion yuan (about US$12 billion) in the first half of this year, a year-on-year rise of 60 percent.

However, bank card frauds and card counterfeiting are increasingly a problem. Phone and online services for bank customers also provide loopholes for hackers to swindle money.

(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2006)