Safe Online Dating With Muddy Matches

Here at Muddy Matches we thrive on bringing together people who love the great outdoors and country life. We are proud to be a member of the Online Dating Association and have stringent measures in place to ensure that your online dating experience is happy and healthy. As well as reviewing all new dating profiles, we have an Acceptable behaviour policy and we encourage our members to report any activity which you don’t think is right.

It is always is better to be safe than sorry as sadly, there are some people out there who do not have you best interests at heart. We’ve gathered all of our experience and knowledge here today to create this guide to ‘Safe Online Dating With Muddy Matches’ so you can go forth and use our country dating site with your mind at rest. So, grab your muddy boots and get ready to meet some other fantastic rural singles!

1. Don’t share your personal information straight away

When you send an online dating message with Muddy Matches, you can rest assured that our online dating messaging system is anonymous and safe. We will never reveal your real email address or personal details to the people you are messaging. Just make sure that you have not published them yourself in your online dating profile, and that you do not send them out in your private messages. If when you’ve got to know someone, you decide to meet up with them in real life, you may need to share an email address or phone number. We advise using a free email account (such as Hotmail, Yahoo or Gmail) if you want to email outside of Muddy Matches, or use a mobile phone number that you can easily change. If you come across anyone who is trying to pressurise into swapping personal details, let us know (see point 2 below!) so that we can investigate.

2. Trust your instincts

If you come across an online dating profile on Muddy Matches that doesn’t quite ‘feel’ right and strikes you as odd, you can use the ‘Report a concern’ button from one of their messages or on their profile to alert us so we can investigate further. It’s really important to us that Muddy Matches is a safe dating site for honest people who are genuine about finding like-minded country singles. If you suspect that someone is abusing the system in any way, tell us. That person won’t know that you have said anything.

If you have been messaging other rural singles and someone starts to make you feel uncomfortable through what they are saying or the questions they are asking then we recommend that you stop interacting with them. If necessary, you can also ‘block’ them to prevent them from getting in touch with you again.

3. Meeting in real life

If you’ve been messaging for a while and feel comfortable with meeting up in person than great! There is no set rule about ‘how long to wait before you meet up’. If you feel that the person you are chatting to is genuine and no red flags have been raised in your mind then please do go ahead. We always recommend that you are cautious though and if anyone is urging you to meet up, then ask yourself ‘why’?

When you are ready to meet, there are several things to do to protect your safety. We have a whole blog of advice here on How To Stay Safe On A First Date but, at the very least, follow these basic rules:

• Pick a place that you know well with plenty of other people around.
• Make your own travel arrangements – for both the journey there and back. Don’t arrange for your date to collect you from your home address or take you back there.
• Take your mobile and make sure it’s charged.
• Tell a friend or member of your family where you are going, who you are meeting and when you expect to get home. Check in with them through the night too and let them know when you get home.
• Don’t worry about saying goodbye and leaving the date if you’re not feeling comfortable.
• Try not to drink too much; it’s best to remain in control so that you can properly look after yourself.

4. Never transfer money

If someone you have been messaging asks for money, stop right there and report their profile to us. In 2017, Brits were defrauded out of a staggering £41 million due to romance fraud in 2017 (according to statistics of frauds reported to City of London Police between January – December 2017). Never send money to, or share your bank details with, someone you’ve met online, no matter what reason they give, how well you think you know them or how long you’ve been speaking to them.

For more advice about staying safe when you are online dating with Muddy Matches, please visit our Safety Advice pages here.