CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The founder of one of the first online payment systems is launching a voice-activated way for people to buy goods over the Internet or via their cell phone.

The new service, called Voice Pay, uses biometric voice analysis to authenticate users. Founder Nick Ogden, who created the predecessor of PayPal in 1994, told Technology Review Voice Pay is so reliable that it will guarantee all payments.

Ogden believes will make it much easier to buy items online or on the go, while dramatically reducing fraud. Voice authentication is the way to go, Ogden said, because “the world is becoming increasingly more mobile, as hardware becomes increasingly keyboardless.”

Consumers first need to set up an account to use Voice Pay by calling a number from a cell phone and establishing a user name and password, as well as providing credit-card information. Callers are asked to register a particular cell-phone number and give a voice print by repeating a series of randomly generated numbers. “It takes about five minutes to do,” Ogden told Technology Review. “Then you’re ready to shop.”

Consumers can shop online by clicking on a Voice Pay icon on a participating store’s Website and then entering their user name and password. Once the customer is logged in to Voice Pay, the system will automatically dial the cell-phone number previously registered to the account. An automated attendant will then initiate a challenge-response procedure, asking the customer to repeat two randomly generated four-digit numbers into the phone. The system will then compare the words spoken to the voice registered with the account and, if the two match, the automated attendant will list the details of the purchase and ask if the account holder wishes to proceed. To go ahead with the purchase, all the account holder needs to say is “yes,” said Ogden.

Account holders also can buy goods when they are not online just by using their cell phone. If a customer sees an item advertised in a newspaper or magazine that she wishes to buy, she simply calls the Voice Pay number and keys in a nine-digit product code listed next to the item. The user is then prompted to say two randomly generated numbers. If the user’s voice matches the voice associated with the account, the transaction will be completed and the item delivered to the registered address.

Voice Pay won’t reveal the false-acceptance and false-rejection rates for its system. But fraud should be dramatically reduced, said Ogden, because there’s no need to give out credit-card details during a transaction.

More than 120,000 users have already registered for Voice Pay accounts, said Ogden. But they won’t be able to use their accounts until retailers start including the Voice Pay icon within their shopping baskets.