Contact: Paul Kinsella
Website: www.WalletTest.com
Email: paulrogerkinsella(at)hotmail(dot)com

Belleville, IL. USA

The results of a sociological experiment testing human honesty have been made public by the webmaster of www.WalletTest.com. Data was collected with the help of hidden cameras that recorded 100 random people in public places picking up 'lost' wallets that were planted there for them to find. The idea was to see who would be honest and return the wallets and who would be dishonest and keep them. Visitors to the website can view short films of all 100 wallet pickers and even listen to recorded phone conversations of the people who tried to redeem the fake gift certificates that were planted in the wallets.

What was in the wallets?
- $2.10 in real money
- a fake $50.00 gift certificate
- A clearly written ID card with the
name, address and phone number
of the wallet's owner.
- Plus a few miscellaneous items
(Click HERE for details)

How honest were people?
Of the 100 wallets -
74 were returned
26 were stolen.
(Click HERE for details)

How did women compare to men?
The men who were tested were over twice as likely to steal the lost wallets then the women who were tested.
(Click HERE for details)

How did young people compare to older people?
The young people tested were over twice as likely to steal the wallets then the middle-aged people tested and over three times as likely to steal the wallets then old people who were tested.
(Click HERE for details)

NOTE: Please feel free to use any of the photographs, data charts, maps, movie clips, audio recordings and text found anywhere on http://www.wallettest.com for use in your news publications.

Some pages that should be explored before
attempting to write a story about WalletTest.com:

Main Page
http://www.wallettest.com/
Contains a gallery of all 100 "wallet pickers" copleate with short movie clips of people picking up the wallets, photos, research notes and satellite images showing where each wallet was dropped.

Results Page
http://www.wallettest.com/Lost_Wallet_Test/Results_Page.html
Detailed analysis of the data collected from the hidden cameras. Charts show differences between various groups of people.

News Clippings
http://www.wallettest.com/Lost_Wallet_Test/News_Clippings.html
Some of the articals that have been published so far.

Wallet Information Page
http://www.wallettest.com/Lost_Wallet_Test/Wallet_Info.html  
Shows the type of wallets used in the honesty experiment and inventories the items inside.

Frequently Asked Questions Page
http://www.wallettest.com/Lost_Wallet_Test/FAQ.html
Answers to the questions most frequently asked by members of the press and visitors to the website.

Phone Recordings Page
http://www.wallettest.com/Lost_Wallet_Test/Phone_Recordings.html 
Listen to recordings of three dishonest people trying to redeem the fake gift certificates they found in lost wallets.

Contact: Paul Kinsella
Email: paulrogerkinsella(at)hotmail(dot)com

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