Three dating safety rules that could save your life

Online dating is a popular way of meeting new people today. Here are three safety rules that could save your life.

If you lead a busy life and don’t get to go out and meet new potential dates very often, signing up to a dating site like Match, Tinder, Bumble or Plenty of Fish can be a great way to connect with like-minded singles. And who knows – maybe even meet the love of your life?

But while online dating has made it much easier for people to find their soulmates, it’s also important to be aware of the safety concerns around meeting up with people from the internet.

You’ve probably already heard a few dating site horror stories, but the good news is that there are steps you can take to protect yourself and make sure you stay safe when you date online or on a local hookup. Here are three important ones.

1) Keep your information private

The last thing that you want is for someone you don’t like, or a match that didn’t work, to track you down and find out where you live or where you work.

While most people understand that not everybody’s going to be your life partner when online dating, there are some people who don’t take rejection very well.

To protect yourself, keep personal information to a minimum until you are sure you trust somebody, have met with them in person a few times, and know that you want to take it further. Don’t give out information such as your last name or where you work, for example. 

2) Take exclusive pictures

In the spirit of keeping personal information about yourself private, you want to avoid somebody getting hold of an image you’ve used on a dating site and using a reverse image search to find out more about you.

It can be tempting to use your best Instagram photos for your dating profile, but this means that anybody might be able to find your Instagram account, and information about you that you’re not ready to share with them yet.

The best way to avoid this is to take new photos specifically for use on the dating site. If you really want to use your social media pictures, make sure that your profiles are set to private. 

3) Look them up

Are you planning to meet up in person and go on a date with somebody that you’ve met on a dating site? While it goes without saying that you should always meet up with them in a public place, avoid getting drunk, and tell somebody you trust where you’re going and how long you expect to be, another good idea is to search for your date online before you go.

Unless they are being extra careful, you might be able to find their social media profiles which can help you learn more about them and the type of person they are. You can then try to establish if they’ve been telling you the entire truth, which sadly isn’t always the case when dating online.

You might also want to use Nuwber to conduct a background check on your date. This could even save your life if you discover that they actually have a pretty serious criminal record, and help you avoid walking into a dangerous situation. Hopefully, this won’t happen, but it’s always better to be safe. 

Photo by Giorgio Trovato