Dating Tips | How To Protect Yourself From Online Dating Scams

Along with the perks of online dating are the risks that come with it. In this guide, learn how you can protect yourself from love scams. | Photo by Freestocks.org on Unsplash

In this digital age, anything can be done in a swipe. One of the advantages it brings is the ease of connecting with different people through different social media platforms and even through dating apps. And if you are coming in with the aim of forming relationships and ultimately finding love, going online may just be your best shot.

While everything seems and feels easy, there are things to consider when trying out online dating. Scam artists also populate the online world. If you want to make sure that the lady you're crushing on is the real deal, read this dating tip on how to avoid love scams. Because in the end, it pays to be careful.

1. Verify their story. This is every online dating manual’s cardinal rule. When you meet someone, do some research about their profile on the web. Check the results and their associated accounts.

From there, you can gauge if it contains very impersonal information or if the stories they shared with you do match what you can see. There are also websites that list down the known emails of scammers for your perusal.

2. Use reverse image search. Scammers are known to use fake names and fake images, so it’s best to check their profile photo thoroughly as well.

Using Google Images or other image search engines, you can run their photos and find out if any of them are used in multiple singles accounts from other dating sites, or are actually stolen from someone else’s profile.

3. Take time to get to know them. While it’s exciting to be able to develop an instant connection with a girl online, you shouldn’t miss the opportunity to know them well first. Take it slow and try to learn as much about her as you can.
4. Be curious about her life and ask questions. One hint that you are talking to a scammer is if they want you to commit to the relationship quickly — obviously for the quick buck.
5. Meet in person. If they are truly interested in taking the relationship to the next level, then they shouldn’t be afraid to meet you in real life. Being “together” virtually, without even meeting once, does not make a successful love life.

Notice when you both make plans of meeting and they suddenly can’t come — that’s a scammer’s way of keeping their act up.

6. Be careful about sharing personal things. Whether it’s an online relationship or not, you should never share intimate photos and videos, and identification numbers to someone you’ve never met before. Also, don’t take their word for it even if they offer an exchange of some sort. Things that you think are private and confidential can be blackmail material in the wrong hands.
7. Never send money. Assume that this person will never pay you back even if they have shown how much they respect you and the relationship. Scams usually begin in small amounts that are easily paid, all in an effort to get your trust before going for a greater sum. Even if you use loan agreements in pen and paper, things can still get tricky since scammers never use real names.

With this list, it may seem as if online dating is nothing more than a tricky place full of scammers to avoid. That’s not necessarily true — there are also other, if not more, beautiful stories of romance that have been made possible through the digital world. And, who knows, your happy ever after could just be logging in right now.

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