Online Dating Safety Tips

Online dating keeps evolving. With the current generation opting for online dating, a lot needs to be revealed on staying safe, from online chat to real-life meetings. Thus, this article takes the role of giving you invaluable tips to stay safe while dating online.

Video Chat Your Date before Physical Meeting

You can use Skype, the dating site’s video call feature, FaceTime, Google Hangouts, or any other video calling means. This video call prior to meeting them helps to know their looks. It will be hard to get catfished by another person claiming to be your date, yet they are not.

Chat by Mobile Phone

It may sound old school, but you should do it. Remember, it is hard to figure out some verbal cues while texting. Thus, talking on the phone makes it easy for you to learn certain verbal cues that you could not while messaging. In addition, you will get to feel them better before the first date.

Take Public Transportation or even self-drive

You should say no to carpools. Just take public transport or simply your own car. You should not let them know where you currently live just yet.

If you have your own vehicle, you will have control over where to pass or go. You also cut down the risk of dangerous situations.

Ignore Request for Monetary Help

You should never accept a user’s request to send the money, however convincing and compelling the reason sounds. Always report such cases to the platform customer care.

Block and report suspicious matches

You are allowed to block and report any users who seem or sound suspicious. Any user who acts inappropriately towards you should be notified to the support team. The good thing is that you can do this anonymously without them finding out about the act.

Avoid contacting suspicious profiles

Fake accounts have characteristics such as one or no profile picture, no linked social media accounts, and no bio. This gives little information about the user. Thus, it would be best to avoid it and move on to a match whose details are clear and have several photos on the profile.

Tell Someone Else about the Date

You can notify one of your friends, brother, sister, or any other family member about the date. Let them know that you will be going on a date and reveal the time you expect to get back home.

In case of anything, the person you notified can take action. They can tell your parents, the police, or even anyone responsible where you were and what had brought you there.

Avoid giving too many details about yourself upfront

You must be keen on the personal info you intend to share. For example, you should never reveal the places you frequent every weekend or day. Do not even tell them where they can find most of your relatives on weekends or holidays. They should not even learn about your:

• Birthdays
• Current residential address
• College
• Workplace etc.

You can tell them more once you know each other better and are both comfortable.

Conclusion

Safety begins with you. Kindly adhere to the safety pointers shared in this article. As a rule, make a video call to see their faces before you meet for the first date. Lastly, do not reveal any personal details upfront. Wait until you get to know them better.

Contact Emergency Service

Call 911 right away to report your situation. Check out the following hotlines for all other cases. They work 24/7.

Rape, Abuse and Incest National Hotline

1-800-656-HOPE www.rainn.org

Planned Parenthood

1-800-230-7526 www.plannedparenthood.org

National Domestic Violence Hotline

1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or 1-800-787-3224 www.thehotline.org