Online romance seems to be so accessible nowadays! With the multitude of dating sites just a click away, it is really tempting to try to find someone special on the web by chatting up people, getting to know them a little, no strings attached, before going out on any “real” dates.
It seems exciting and a real life-saver when you don’ have to invest the time and energy to do things in the old-fashioned face-to-face way.
The problem is there are a lot of people out there who make a living out of cheating the innocent, unsuspecting online romance seekers out of their money. So, does this mean that you’d better steer clear of dating sites altogether? Not necessarily. The Dating Cop’s Reviews are a good way to check out who to trust and who to avoid at all cost. You just need to be really well-informed and there are ways to achieve that. Let’s take a look at some guidelines as to how to stay happy and safe in the world of online romance.
Avoid Attempts To Take Conversations Off The Site
One of the first measures you can take to protect yourself from scammers is to avoid dating platforms and/or users who are eager to take the conversation to a different channel. If they start sending you links to follow, want you to call some number or give you an e-mail address to write to instead of the messaging app on the dating site, this is a red flag they are trying to lure you to a place where they will be able to more easily get a hold of your personal information or credit card data in order to steal your money.
This can happen through following a link or opening a file which might then infect your computer and enable the scammer to harvest the desired information. Or they might use your personal e-mail or phone number to later bother you with unwanted messages with the aim to blackmail you. Unsure how scams operate? Read here.
In short, if you just started chatting with somebody and they try to get you away from the website to continue talking to you, you can be pretty certain it’s a con artist in search of a new victim.
Be Skeptical And Double Check
Sometimes you are better off paranoid than too trusting. Be skeptical of all you hear and see because if someone sounds too good to be true they probably are. If you didn’t meet the person behind a profile in the flesh, do your best to run a check on them to make sure they are who they claim to be. You can, for example, run profile images through a search engine to see whether they are associated with other people and your correspondent stole them from another website or profile.
You can also type the name and see what information comes up on social media and websites such as linkedIn. That’s how you will be able to run their story by the facts that surface on the web. Are they lying about their line of work? Does their birth date and town match across social platforms and correspond with what they told you?
What do you learn about their way of life and acquaintances? You can find further suggestions at https://www.rd.com/advice/relationships/how-to-avoid-online-dating-scams/. You would be surprised at how much a single Google search can tell you about someone.
Take Advantage Of Dating Site Reviews
A good way to start your online dating journey is by researching popular platforms and reading what other people have to say about them. It is true that the same website might have conflicting reviews due to the nature of individual member experiences but you can easily get a vibe of the underlying character, quality of service and any rules pertaining to avoiding and dealing with scams.
The privacy measures and site features, fees, profile visibility and the like say a lot about whether the service provider or its members are likely to be involved in scams.
In short, before you pay for a membership, go online and check out existing reviews about the service you intend to purchase. Watch out for pitfalls and hidden dangers. Get informed and follow your intuition and you will increase your chances of benefiting from virtual romance.
