New York, NY (PRWEB) August 20, 2009

Crederity, a Wharton-incubated online identity and credential verification startup, has announced the launch of an identity verification service for Twitter users in the US. Helping combat the growing problem of online identity theft, the service enables Twitter users to prove that they are indeed who they claim to be.

Crederity is the first and only service in the world which allows Twitter account verification by validating the offline, real-world identity of the person who has created a Twitter account.

While there is certainly place for anonymity online, as more and more of our daily lives go digital, there is a growing need for authentication of real world identity and credentials on the Internet. Facing harsh criticism from celebrities including Kanye West and Tony La Russa about impersonators creating unauthorized Twitter accounts on their behalf, Twitter recently launched a verified account feature for celebrities only. The new service from Crederity will help any user to verify his or her Twitter account and connect it with an online identity profile which asserts the authenticity of the user’s identity.

Identity theft and impersonation of celebrities is a well-known problem, but it’s less well known that these issues actually affect non-celebrities with far greater frequency. We usually only learn about the outcome of these impersonations in the news when the outcome is devastating–recent high profile cases include multiple reports of people losing their jobs, as well as a case in which a teen girl was prompted to commit suicide by an impersonator on a social networking site.

“The launch of Twitter identity verification services in the US is another step towards Crederity’s mission of building a trusted Internet worldwide,” said Crederity co-founder and CEO Rakesh Antala. “Our goal is to facilitate interaction by building trust,” continued Antala, “and we have developed a set of sophisticated technologies and programs to help people and businesses easily establish trust on the Internet. Any website, including Twitter.com, can leverage Crederity to build a community of trusted users by verifying that an individual is in fact who they claim to be and that he or she indeed has the credentials he or she claims to possess.” Reconfirming Crederity’s commitment to building trust online, the Twitter identity verification service is offered free of charge.

To learn more about Crederity’s new service for Twitter users, please visit: http://www.crederity.com/twitter.html.

About Crederity, Inc.

Crederity, Inc., based in New York and Pennsylvania, has created an online fact verification technology and is addressing the problem of building trust in new business and personal relationships. Crederity is a symbol of trust. Its services allow anyone to easily, safely and securely share, request and verify personal and business information. Crederity originated as a winning entry in the 2005 Wharton Business Plan Competition at the University of Pennsylvania. For more information, please visit http://www.crederity.com.

# # #