How to navigate online dating
Online dating is the way of the future. Why limit yourself to the guys and gals at your local pub when you can have a smorgasbord of choices online? Well, unfortunately online dating doesn’t always go as smoothly as you might like, as we’ve learned through a number of investigations into people met online. Here are a few tips for navigating the dangerous world of dating online.
Meet on mutual, public territory
This seems obvious, but don’t meet someone you met online at their house, your house or somewhere secluded. It’s fairly rare to be abducted or taken advantage of, but it can definitely happen. This goes for guys too! Remember, you don’t know anything about this person, except what they’ve told you. It’s very easy to lie, especially online in an online dating site. Meet at a shopping centre, cafe or the movies. Meet in a public place with people around. This way if things turn sour, or you want to call it off without the other person making a scene, you’ll be ok.
Ask about their life
It can be easy to get caught up talking about yourself or mutual topics like the movie you went to see, but you really need to get to know the person as well as you can as quickly as you can. Mostly to find out if you’re compatible as dating partners, but also to make sure the person you’re dating is who they say they are. Ask questions like if they have a job, what they do, what they like to do on the weekend, their hobbies, and things like that. If they’re vague in their answers, if things don’t add up (e.g. they’re a lawyer who works 75 hours a week, but their hobby is to run for 3 hours a day) or it seems like they’re making things up, then it’s likely that they’re not a truthful person, and you may not want to trust what they say.
Meet their friends
A scam artist will usually be happy to come to any of your events, but never introduce you to anyone in their circle. If you’ve gone on a few dates, they’ve met your friends and come over to your house, but they’ve never done the same with you, it could be that they’re hiding something. They could be married or dating someone else, they could be a scam artist only working you until they can get something out of you, or many other nefarious reasons. If you ask, and they get upset and still won’t let you in to their life, this is a warning flag.
Find out more
In the end, if you’re getting serious with this person, you need to find out more about them. Are they married? Do they have a criminal record? Are they a scam artist? There’s only so much you can find out on your own, and it pays to know what you’re getting into before you’ve gone in too deep. An investigation can help you find out all you need to know about your online dating partner. A private investigator can run a background check and surveillance to find out all the big stuff.
If you want to make sure your online date isn’t a dud, give us a call on 1300 721 715 or email info@eliteinvestigations.com.au for a commitment free talk on how we can tailor an investigation to suit your needs.