Systems and methods for user authentication to verify transaction legitimacy

An authentication system, comprising:

• a mobile device associated with a user;
• a merchant point-of-sale (POS) terminal having an Internet protocol (IP) address;
• one or more processors;
• and
• memory in communication with the one or more processors and storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, are configured to cause the authentication system to:
• receive transaction data associated with the user and a transaction received from the merchant POS terminal;
• determine whether the transaction data satisfies a verification condition based on a proximity of a first geographic location of the merchant POS terminal, determined based on the IP address, and a second geographic location of the mobile device, determined by pinging the mobile device, whether a credit card associated with the transaction has been reported as lost or stolen, a risk level generated for the transaction, whether the transaction is a step-up transaction, or combinations thereof;
• obtain stored mobile data for the user, when the transaction satisfies the verification condition, wherein the transaction data comprises identifying data unique to the user and the stored mobile data is obtained based on the identifying data;
• send, via one or more networks and after initiation of the transaction by the user at a mobile application executing on the mobile device, a request for a current image of the user, wherein the mobile application is identified based on the stored mobile data and the request comprises an indication of a requested action to be performed by the user during capture of the current image;
• analyze the current image to classify an action depicted in the current image after the current image is obtained from the mobile device in response to the request;
• and
• responsive to determining the depicted action corresponds to the requested action as a result of the analysis of the current image:
• obtain one or more past images identifying the user that initiated the transaction from another memory of the mobile device;
• compare a first set of one or more facial features recognized in the one or more past images to a second set of one or more facial features recognized in the current image to determine whether the user is depicted in both the one or more past images and the current image, wherein the user performing the requested action is depicted in the current image;
• and
• responsive to determining the user is depicted in both the one or more past images and the current image, allow the transaction to proceed at the mobile application.

An authentication system, comprising:

• a mobile device associated with a user;
• a merchant point-of-sale (POS) terminal;
• one or more processors;
• and
• memory in communication with the one or more processors and storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, are configured to cause the authentication system to:
• response to receiving transaction data associated with a user and a transaction initiated via the merchant POS terminal:
• determine a first geographic location of the merchant POS terminal based on an Internet protocol address associated with the merchant POS terminal;
• ping the mobile device to determine a second geographic location of the mobile device;
• and
• determine that a verification condition is satisfied when a proximity of the first and second geographic locations fails to satisfy a proximity threshold;
• after initiation of the transaction by the user, send a request for a current image of the user to the mobile device, wherein the request comprises an indication of a requested action to be performed by the user during capture of the current image;
• classify an action depicted in the current image after the current image is obtained from the mobile device in response to the request;
• determine whether the depicted action corresponds to the requested action based on the classification;
• and
• after determining the depicted action corresponds to the requested action:
• obtain one or more past images identifying the user that initiated the transaction from another memory of the mobile device;
• compare a first set of one or more facial features recognized in the one or more past images, to a second set of one or more facial features recognized in the current image to determine whether the user is depicted in both the one or more past images and the current image, wherein the user performing the requested action is depicted in the current image;
• and
• responsive to determining the user is depicted in both the one or more past images and the current image, allow the transaction to proceed at the mobile device.