New Rule of Thumb

Don’t be surprised if the next time you write out a check at the dry cleaner or hardware store, the clerk asks for your fingerprint along with your driver’s license.

In an effort to crack down on check fraud that costs businesses millions of dollars a year, a growing number of police departments and merchants are turning to a consumer thumbprinting system.

An estimated 10% to 15% of merchants in Orange County participate in the program, which requires customers to place their thumbprint on the checks they use to make payments. Merchants use a type of “inkless” pad that doesn’t leave any marks on customers’ fingers.

Police said the fingerprint provides a solid clue that detectives often lack when investigating check fraud cases, since many who write bad checks use fake identification.

With a fingerprint, said Anaheim Police Det. Werner Raes, “the identity of the suspect has been established through physical evidence.” Police can compare the thumbprints to the millions in police and other government records.

Anaheim is one of several cities that use the program. Police in Santa Ana, Fountain Valley, Buena Park and Garden Grove have the program underway, Irvine is starting, and La Habra has recently inquired about it.

Paul Horton, manager of Roseburrough Tool in Orange, said he has become a believer in the program.

“It beats having the Police Department coming down with pictures and having to try to I.D. somebody you haven’t seen in six months,” he said. “It’s almost impossible.”

After a Year, Few Customers Object

The store began participating in the program when the city implemented it about a year ago. Horton said there was initial concern that some customers would be annoyed at having to give a print. But now, he said, many of the regulars know to have their thumb ready.

“It was kind of hard to have guys come in and have to ask for a driver’s license and thumbprint,” Horton said. “But we maybe had one or two people upset within the whole year. Most people are willing to do it.”

Raes said many merchants shy away from the program because they feel it violates the customers’ privacy--a feeling he strongly disputes.

“It is not a privacy issue,” Raes said. “It’s the biggest myth that is going around. Fingerprints are a very solid, valuable form of identification.”

Fingerprints have been pivotal clues in solving many check fraud cases, but investigators acknowledge they are not foolproof. Some fingerprints are unreadable because they were taken improperly, and police and government fingerprint files cover only a fraction of the population.

Officer Felicitas Gomez said Orange began participating in the program in 1998 after experiencing a rash of stolen and forged checks.

“We thought, well, they are using fake I.D.’s so we need to get a thumbprint,” she said. “It seems to be the easiest, quickest way to decrease check fraud.”

Gomez said business owners have told her people will get out of line and walk out of a store when they see cashiers taking thumbprints. But some fraudulent check cashers continue to take their chances.

“I have a feeling the reason why the crook does it anyway is because they feel the dollar amount on the check is so small the business owner will just eat the loss,” she said.

Although check fraud has not diminished in Orange, Gomez said police are able to file more check fraud cases with the district attorney.

“At least 95% of the cases I file with the district attorney have been accepted for criminal filing,” she said.