CLEVELAND -- Check counterfeiters often get their hands on computers, scanners and color laser printers.

SURVEY Do you agree with banks requiring people's fingerprints to deter check-cashing fraud? Yes. If it will help with security, I don't see what the big deal is. No. I think people's privacy is invaded too much as it is. Results  |  Disclaimer

But banks across the country are fighting this type of fraud with technology that is nothing sophisticated; in fact, they're using inkpads.

Live On Five Investigator Jodi Brooks reported that the approach appears to work, but it's not sitting well with customers.

If you want to cash a check and you're not at your bank, a subtle but significant red dot warns that the bank is asking for the only identification a check fraud artist can't forge: your fingerprint.

Local resident Mary Elizabeth Rowe doesn't like it.

"Because I think they know too much already, and I think they need to know nothing else," she said. "They have our ID, and I think that's good enough."

But IDs have not been enough to cut down on check fraud. Several banks, including Bank One, Key Bank, and U.S. Bank, all take part in the Thumbprint Signature Program.

"I don't have a problem with it," Carl Barone said. "I've done it before. It's just an additional security measure that banks are trying to take. I don't have anything to hide; it's not an issue for me."

Industry losses are reported at more than $1 billion a year because of forged or counterfeit checks. When fingerprints are required, banks cut fraud by nearly 60 percent.

The Thumbprint Signature Program started five years ago in Las Vegas, and it's now seen in all 50 states.

Some customers do complain.

"I think you're giving out information in the electronic age where identity theft is a big thing," customer Dennis Baca said. "It's easy to steal credit card numbers and everything else. It's just another form of it."

"Nah, I don't (like that). I wouldn't do that at all," customer Dan Hickok said.

So far, there have been no reports of fingerprint failure.

The Federal Reserve Bank and the Federal Bureau of Investigation endorse the little red dot.

Banks are not the only businesses using the fingerprinting program, NewsChannel5 reported. Industries as varied as U-Haul, check-cashing outlets and the Los Angeles County Welfare Department have found the system a significant deterrent to fraud.