PhoneConfirm.com Announces Phone Identity Verification Service for Social Networking Websites

Web Service Enables Social Networking Websites to Conduct Real-Time, Phone Verification for Prevention of Harassers, Underage Sign-ups and Predators; Creation of Mobile Advertising Revenue

Plymouth, MN, April 26, 2006 – Phoneconfirm.com, the leading provider of automated, real-time, phone verification services, today announced general availability of its Phone Identity Verification (PIV) service for the social networking website industry.

PhoneConfirm.com PIV provides social networking websites with an automated, real-time, 24x7 service to link a verified phone number during the sign-up process to a new online profile at social networking websites. The Phone Confirm service optimizes the ability of social networking websites to stop multiple accounts, spam-related profiles, repeat underage sign-ups, online predators, and fake or harassing profiles. The service also enables social networking websites to generate revenues by quickly and easily gathering verified phone numbers for “mobile marketing”. PhoneConfirm.com enables social networking websites to quickly and easily decrease legal, social, and system costs while increasing online security and safety as well as advertising revenues.

Verifying the phone identity of users of social networking sites before allowing a new online profile is more-and-more critical for any social networking website. Phoneconfirm.com helps address both the security and identity bad news dominating the media landscape around social networking sites, while also pointing the way to the huge good news associated with the next generation of phone-based “mobile marketing.” (In the future, it may be possible for parents or organizations to choose to put their phone numbers on a “Do Not Create an Online Profile” list associated with certain social networking websites.)

Because PhoneConfirm.com service requires a correct response to a call to a phone number while displaying a randomly-generated personal identification number (PIN) on the sign-up screen during the sign-up process the verified phone number is associated with the profile. Less intrusive than asking for credit-card information, but less easily faked than an anonymous email or street address, it is not easy to constantly create new phone numbers that can be instantaneously verified during each profile sign-up using Phoneconfirm.com. PhoneConfirm.com enables the verification of phone numbers that can then be tracked and “flagged” when associated with fraud, underage sign-ups, predatory behavior, scammers or spammers.

Some studies reveal that one out of every 10 sign-ups on social networking and dating sites is a fake profile. These fake profiles inflate costs associated with the social networking site in many ways, including: scammers using the site to harass legitimate members, scammers who use the social networking site to create fraudulent purchases resulting in chargebacks, spammers using social networking site to gather and steal information, and legal costs associated with underage users and predators on a social networking website.
Moreover, rather than advertisers paying for a substantial percentage of profiles that are duplicates, scammers, or fake profiles these same advertisers will have verified phone numbers for the hottest marketing trends of 2006 – cell phone, mobile, short-text-message (SMS), or G3 marketing.

PhoneConfirm.com PIV addresses these issues by offering social networking sites and their customers and advertisers, a fully automated phone identity verification service that can be implemented quickly, seamlessly and cost-effectively into any social networking website environment.
"Verifying phone identities makes a tremendous amount of sense for social networking websites because it enables them to improve safety and security, improve cost-efficiency, and enable additional marketing revenue," said Vadim Mazo, CEO, of PhoneConfirm.com. "This is what an online communication service must do – provide a solution to a problem and open up possibilities for the automation of business processes online so that companies can focus on the positive possibilities in the marketplace.”

How PhoneConfirm.com's PIV Works
PhoneConfirm.com uses HTTP/SOAP to integrate with a social networking website’s customer-facing Web application. The phone number entered by the customer is automatically routed using XML and encryption through PhoneConfirm.com's services and a call is made to the phone number entered by the end-user in real-time. PhoneConfirm.com can either display a PIN number on the sign-up screen that must be entered into the phone keypad, or PhoneConfirm.com can have an automated voice read a PIN number over the phone that must be entered onto the sign-up screen. Verification of the phone identity is then automatically communicated back to the social networking website application and to the consumer. The communication between the social networking website and PhoneConfirm.com is made using SSL encryption. The PhoneConfirm.com Phone Identity Verification service is available today. For more information and a demonstration, please visit www.PhoneConfirm.com.

About PhoneConfirm.com
PhoneConfirm.com is a wholly owned service of Across Communications, Inc. and is one of a suite of leading communication services that enable trusted commerce and communications with confidence. Other Across Communications Inc services include Email to Phone service and AcrossAlert.com. Across Communications platform was developed by Dana Consulting Inc, which also provides network monitoring, website monitoring and web server performance software for corporations worldwide.

Contacts:
Phoneconfirm.com Media Relations: Brad Canham, bradc@phoneconfirm.com
Corporate PhoneConfirm.com: info@phoneconfirm.com 1-888-364-5101