Store demands fingerprint when credit card is used

[rainbow4321]

http://whnt.com/Global/story.asp?S=2947492&nav=1VPtWNA4

Monica Sudeall from Harvest, Alabama wanted a watch. It was a Wednesday, and she had plans to give it to her friend on a Friday. And only one store had the watch she wanted to buy: Friedman's Jewelry.

So Monica went to the store and picked out the watch she wanted, but when she got to the counter, she got a surprise. The clerk demanded her fingerprint. "I really thought they were kidding," Monica says. They weren't. As part of a fraud-prevention program called 'Crimebite,' Friedman's asks for a fingerprint every time someone uses a credit card.

<snip>

We called Friedman's to see how they were protecting customers. They wouldn't go on camera for an interview, but they did say the fingerprints weren't really intrusive at all. You leave the fingerprints with them, and they put them in a drawer with your receipt. If the customer comes back later and says 'Someone stole my credit card and used it here,' they've got the fingerprint, and they know who it was.

They add the program's been "highly successful" in the two years they've used it nationwide as a "psychological deterrent." Friedman's also says, "You lose the effectiveness of the whole policy if a customer turns it down" because "if someone has your credit card, they might be the one saying they don't need it."