Gas Prices to Accelerate Online Pre-Christmas Shopping

NEW HAVEN, CT, November 22nd, 2005 - Twenty per cent of pre-Christmas shoppers will prefer online shopping due to the rising gas prices - says a new Internet survey conducted by CallingID (http://www.callingid.com), a provider of Internet safety solutions for web applications such as e-commerce and e-banking. The survey was based on responses from 430 CallingID users conducted in November 2005.

Fifty per cent of the respondents said they would do more online shopping, and 43% would use online banking more frequently, if they knew that the Internet was safer. Forty-six per cent know at least one person who was a victim of identity theft.

"The survey clearly indicates that online shopping and online banking could be much more popular among consumers," said Yoram Nissenboim, CallingID CEO. "The fear of Internet fraud is holding back this potential and CallingID prevents it and encourages consumers to increase their online shopping and banking."

Forty-three per cent of the survey respondents reported that since they started using CallingID they buy more online, 44% reported an increase in online banking activities, and 22% reported that they now feel safer executing online banking transactions.

Internet fraud has become a popular tool for identity-theft scammers. CallingID for the internet protects users from Internet scams and encourages them to do business over the Internet. It is free downloadable software that resides on the Internet browser. Taking up minimal space, it instantly displays the owner of the site you visit, including its physical address. CallingID uses 54 verification tests to evaluate the risk of communicating or doing business with a website. When any of these tests fail, the user is urged to rethink his/her intention to login, or to place an order from that site. It summarizes the results of the tests in a simple indication to help the user decide whether to proceed.

A personal copy of CallingID for the internet can be downloaded for free from www.callingid.com/download.aspx. Installation is fast and simple.

About CallingID
CallingID provides solutions that encourage safe usage of the Internet for business, helping customers avoid Internet fraud (phishing, pharming, spyware and Trojans), focusing on online banking, e-commerce and corporate sites, as well as individual Internet users. CallingID's offices are located in New Haven, Connecticut, with the R&D team based in Haifa, Israel.