How to Stay Safe Online
Saturday, February 03rd, 2018
Online dating is a great way to find love, but with anything in life, it pays to be cautious.We have put together some advice to help you to stay safe and to enjoy dating dating.
Choose a safe website
Each year thousands of online dating websites are set up, but not all of them have the same measures in place. Take a look at the Online Dating Association’s search tool to see if the website has signed up to the code of conduct, or ask your friends and family about websites that they have used.
Keep your full name a secret
We only allow members to use their first name as their username to help to protect their identities, and we also allow people with really rare first names to use an alternative first name. However, some websites allow you to use whatever name you like, which can mean that people use their full name, or their email address, making them vulnerable to being tracked down off the site. If you choose your own name, make sure that it doesn’t make you too easy to find elsewhere.
Don’t share contact details
Adding your mobile phone number, or email address into your dating profile text, or overlaying your personal details on your profile photos might seem like a smart way to avoid paying for online dating. However, it opens you up to unsolicited attention and it will not be as easy to block and report someone if conversation has moved offline.
Report suspicious activity
On the note of blocking people, if you feel uncomfortable with someone, you can choose to block them on most dating websites. This will ensure that they cannot contact you, or view your profile.
If you feel that the person could be a scammer, or is acting aggressively, you should report them to the website administrator.
Don’t send money
The most widely publicised signal that someone is a scammer is that they will ask people for money, usually by using a sob story. If someone that you don’t know asks you for money, don’t send any and make sure that you report them straight away, even if they made contact through email, or text message.
