No one wants to think of negative things like ‘scam’ or ‘fraud’ when it comes to finding love and dating. But that’s exactly what dating in the modern world has come down to. The Federal Trade Commission says that, in 2018, they had 21,000 reports about romance scams, with an average of $2600 reported losses due to these scams.
Does this make you a little sad and a lot wary about going on a date with a random stranger you met on Tinder or some other dating website? That’s quite understandable. Keep reading to find out if you should google your date or not.
Catfish – Are You Dealing With One or Not?
Do you sometimes get messages from people online and wonder ‘is he a catfish?’ because he seems just too good to be true? Do you wish you had some way of confirming your suspicions or negating them, so you could go into the date (or avoid it) without feeling so much guilt or anxiety about it?
That’s why it’s a good idea to google your date or search for a date online to see what he or she is exactly about. If you aren’t sure what a catfish is, it’s those people who make up fake identities online with evil intentions in mind.
Sometimes people use fake pictures because they are worried that people aren’t going to like what they look like normally, but other times, people are doing it intending to harm someone or seduce a young one (pedophilia).
Protect Yourself From Scams and Other Frauds
As iterated in the introduction, there are many unscrupulous people out there who are going to take advantage of your desire to fall in love and be in a beautiful romance (like in the movies) to make money off of you.
Interestingly enough, there are many Facebook groups or other groups online where women meet up to warn each other of men in their area who are committing scams or who are not what they say they are. There are Instagram accounts like Bye Felipe and many others where women are committed to sharing awful and dangerous meetups they have had with men to protect other women from experiencing the same.
If you are interested in protecting yourself when online dating, then consider joining up some of these groups and also sharing any stories you might have of people who have harassed you or tried to scam you, so you can protect someone else from the same fate. Remember, united we stand, divided we fall.
Find Out More About Your Date Before You Meet up (Not To Use It Against Them)
Do you have very strict guidelines about the kind of person you wish to date (and marry)? Are you sick and tired of wasting time on men (or women) who aren’t your type?
Well, how about using the great resource that’s available to you, i.e., the Internet, to do some research (ok, snooping) on the person before hanging out with them face-to-face. Wouldn’t it be better if you found out the person lives with 16 cats and you are allergic to cats, before meeting up with them?
Or if you are vegan and this person turns out to be a meat-eater, even though they iterated on their profile that they love animals, you would want to know this before you waste time going out to meet them? Right?
Now, don’t use this research online to bump yourself up in someone’s books. For example, don’t start raving about Portugal or rabbits, just because you saw online that this person has been to Portugal or has a pet rabbit that they love to pieces. That’s underhanded and it’s not the reason you want to google your date beforehand.
Don’t Go Into a Date in a Naive Fashion
Maybe you wish we lived in simpler times where you would find the love of your life when you were 17 at a high school dance and be with them until you were old and gray.
But you don’t. You live in a world where you are lucky enough to meet dozens of people in a matter of seconds, and you can swipe right or left as you prefer.
There are both good and bad sides to the modern world of online dating. That’s why you need to become less naive about the whole process and cover your behind. No one else is going to take care of you when you go unwittingly to meet up with someone who’s a scammer or a catfish.
Don’t ignore warning signals or red flags and pretend afterward like the world’s an unfair place. If a man seems too good to be true, or if you feel like your date is trying just a little too hard, doing a bit of online searching can save you in the long run.
If you aren’t tech-savvy or you don’t want to waste too much time searching for someone online, use People Finder to make your search easier. In a matter of seconds, you will have all the information you need on a person from their Facebook profile, to LinkedIn, and more.
Google Your Date To Stay Safe
Just remember this. You aren’t doing a date lookup online to put the person down or to show them up. You aren’t doing this with evil or negative intentions.
You are doing this to protect yourself. It’s even more important to google your date if you live alone in a strange city with no family or friends around. There are way too many stories out there of single, innocent women who got scammed and lost all their savings. Or worse, who were murdered, maimed, or hurt by others in the process.
If you wish to learn more about the online dating world, then keep browsing other interesting articles on our website and stay informed.
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