If you want to do online dating, then there are definitely some safety tips you could follow to make sure you don’t end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. If you meet a stranger from the internet you could be putting yourself in danger. Yes, most people are good people, but some people do have nefarious desires and it’s not the best to hang out with those people. So, here are some tips you can follow when you can.
What You Should Do:
There are several things you can do to make sure that your online dating experiences will be safe and fun. Safety starts from the first moment. Once you know your new date’s username or even their full name, e-mail address or phone number, you should look them up on a search engine. There are several review sites which could let you know if a phone number has been associated with a sketchy person or if you need to watch out and be careful. When you look someone up look for anyone saying that this person is bad. It could just be something related to their work, like they cheated on something, or it could be something even more nefarious. Make sure you know as much about them as possible.
Another thing you should do is always meet in a public place for the first time. This will ensure that you can get a chance to go with your gut before you are alone in a private place where anything could happen. Sometimes a person can seem really cool online but when you meet up in person, you might feel a little off or weird and so meeting up in public makes it a good way to have an “out.”
You should also always tell people where you are going and who you are meeting up with. Set up a time to text a friend back by so that you don’t have to worry about no one knowing where you are. Even if you think this date is going to be so cool, you just never know what is going to happen and you want to let someone know what’s going on with you. That way if the worst should happen, someone will know to look for you. Let your friend know where you are going and a time that they should expect to hear from you by. If they don’t hear from you, make sure a plan is in place for what they should do. Is there a list of people they should call or would you like them to call the police? Whatever the plan is, you both need to be on the same page as far as what it is.
When you are online, you should be your real self, within reason. Just be cool and yourself and you’ll make some great friends!
What You Should Not Do
When you’re online dating, you should not give out too much personal information. Don’t give your address or any type of financial information. That is a big red flag if someone asks you for your bank account or to send them any type of money. Don’t give out the important passwords to your other online accounts as well. You also shouldn’t give your your birthdate, or other information that could be used as an answer to a security question like your pet’s name or the name of the first street you lived on.
Anothing thing you should not do is sext or send nude pictures to strangers. You really don’t know who they are and you don’t know what they are going to do with those pictures. They could sell them to a porn site or show them to their friends, which could be your friends or someone you know. Just be very careful online if you want to do online dating the safe way!