TAKEFUJI CORPORATION   15-1 Nishi-Shinjuku 8-chome,Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-8654 Japan January 25, 2005 For release    Immediately Representative Megumu Motohisa, President Contact Investor Relations Tel: 81-3-3365-8011 Fax: 81-3-3365-8070 Stock Code No. 8564 TYOSE Takefuji Adopts Electronic Signature in E-mails to Prevent Phishing Fraud - Prevents Disguising to Secure Customers' Personal Information - Takefuji Corporation ("the Company") has adopted the VeriSign Managed PKI Service, an electronic certificate deployment service of VeriSign Japan, K.K. (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Akihiko Kawashima) and has been applying the electronic signature to electronic mails sent by its employees since the end of December 2004, as part of the Company's steps to combat the ever-growing risk of phishing fraud. The mark shown below will be attached to e-mails sent by the Company's employees. Clicking on the mark will enable the recipient to verify the electronic signature and the certificate, confirm that the sender is an employee of the Company and ensure that the content of the e-mail has not been altered in the communications pathway. The Company has been announcing the new measure to its customers and business partners on its website since January 19, 2005 and will strive to increase its visibility in the future. The introduction of the electronic signature system has been limited to certain users such as law firms and information management divisions in corporations. Not only in Japan but also in the United States, it remains rare for a company to introduce the system on a company-wide basis, but VeriSign Japan believes that the electronic signature is likely to penetrate rapidly into all sectors of the industry world. In phishing fraud, a sender of an e-mail tricks the recipient into believing that the email has been sent by a bank or credit card company, and advises the recipient to send back personal financial information such as credit card numbers and bank personal identification numbers, which is then used for unlawful purposes. According to a report by U.S. firm Gartner Inc. released in May 2004, 1.8 million people had reported losses from phishing in the United States in a single year, with total damages of 1.2 billion dollars (approximately 120 billion yen). In Japan, the first instance of a loss from phishing was recorded in December 2004, and there are concerns that such losses may grow rapidly in the future, as they have in the United States. Back by Takefuji co.