No one wants to think of negative things like &39 scam39; or fraud when it comes to finding love and dating. But that 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? Thats 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?
Thats why it a good idea to google your date or search for a date online to see what he or she is
exactly about. If you are not 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 are not your type?
Well, how about using the great resource thats available to you, i.e., the Internet, to do some
research (ok, snooping) on the person before hanging out with them face-to-face. Would not 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, do not use this research online to bump yourself up in someones books. For example, do not
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. Thats 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 is a scammer or a catfish.
Do not ignore warning signals or red flags and pretend afterward like the worlds 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 are not tech-savvy or you do not 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 are not doing a date lookup online to put the person down or to show
them up. You are not doing this with evil or negative intentions.
You are doing this to protect yourself. Its 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.
