Dating Safety

Selecting a Service

Exclusively use reputable online dating services. Select a service based on personal endorsement or advice from a trustworthy information website. Beware of review websites that say they are offering independent advice. Where there is a 'site of the week' feature or any one specific service is recommended, it may well be the service that provides the greatest commission. Additionally beware of client review sites. Although we haven't heard of this occuring with singles sites, there have been many scams where companies have payed individuals to recommend their products on what are supposed to be independent customer review websites and there's no way the review sites can check this, so you can't assume that the reviews are automatically genuine.

Trustworthy services let you register and do at minimum a simple browse without a fee, so you can choose whether or not you wish to take out a full subscription. Don't hand over any money until you are certain you want to use the service offered. Additionally look for free singles sites. Remember that if they let you in for free, anyone else gets in without a fee as well so these are most likely the preferred locations of idiots and con men.

Note that if anyone contacts you via a social networking website and asks you join a particular dating website to view their pictures, they could be being paid for signups and after you have registered you'd discover they do not exist.

After Sign up

You may get one or two messages just after you do a free sign up, encouraging you to log in and read the messages that you've been sent. If reading e-mails is part of the paid subscription then please note that these initial e-mails may not be completely genuine as some less trustworthy sites pay individuals to 'welcome' new users without making it clear that these are not true messages from people interested in meeting you .

Searching

You should watch out for con men as some con men take advantage of these sites to meet likely victims. Some things to look for are pictures that look like clippings from a magazine (in which case they probably are) and people clearly providing sex (it may be that this is their profession).

Exchanging Messages

When you start exchanging messages with anyone, watch out for messages that do not refer to you personally or things you've discussed in previous messages. E-mails with a 'cut and paste' appearance may very well be showing that you are part of a large group of individuals being targetted by a con artist who doesn't have time to reply individually to each message.

Requests for gifts, favours of money or for your specific address or bank account number should always be refused. Do NOT assume that a cleared cheque or money transfer order means you are secure. If it turns out that it was a forged document then you're resonsible for the money, not the bank. If anyone does ask you to do something financial for them, send them a link to this page and if they are genuine, they will understand.

Do not disclose personal details that would allow someone to steal your identity. Do not ever send anyone any of your 'numbers' (card numbers, PINs, national insurance numbers etc.), passwords, or your address or telephone number. Do Not give someone you're going to have a date with your address, or you could find that when you return from your date, you have been burgled.

Identifying 'Blitzers'

Previous research into magazine-based personal advertisement services has shown that there are some individuals who 'blitz' messages out to near enough anyone else on the service. These may not be fraudsters, they may be genuine individuals who are not particularly choosey and who are fishing for loads of dates. However this tactic might also be used by fraudsters to source new targets, and do you really want to date someone who will date absolutely anyone?. The services probably won't like us talking about this but if you wish to check this you could always register twice, one true sign up and one with a fabricated profile that's different to the genuine one. If you receive identical e-mails to both then you know you have heard from a 'blitzer', or possibly a scammer.

We trust you found the information above useful and wish you luck with your search for a partner. Simply remember to look after yourself! In case you are not already looking at it (sometimes our articles get copied by other sites) the original of this essay is available here and more articles on love, romance and dating can be found at www.online-dating-sites.co.uk.