7 Precautions to Take While Dating Online
Dating online is the new cool thing to do. In the age of technological explosion, you cannot just ignore how easy it has become to find anything – including love! But do not fool yourself. If you have been into the online dating scene, you already know how easy it is to fool someone online or to get deceived as well. While online dating has made finding prospective partners easier, it has also opened doors for many creepy, weird and rogue persons to take advantage of the anonymity that it provides. So even if you must take advantage of the online dating sites to find suitable partners for yourself, you must also take necessary steps to prevent yourself from falling prey to this latter category of people who may be having ulterior motives. Listed here are 7 precautions to take while dating online.
1. Upload a separate set of pictures
Have an entirely different set of pictures which you should use exclusively for online dating only. The reason for this is that if you use the same images that you also use for your other more public accounts like Facebook or Google account, you become more susceptible to being identified easily. Should someone want to find out who you really are, whether you conceal your identity on the dating site or not, all they have to do is run a Google image search on your photos. This will give them all information available on your public accounts very easily and make the whole feat futile. Therefore, have a separate set of pictures which will not reveal any information which you do not wish to share.
2. Do not give too much personal information
Of course, when you are dating online, you must share some information about yourself in order to make the other party interested. But there are things which you must not reveal at the very first go. Since you have not yet met the person in question, you do not really know if he really is who he claims to be or what he is looking for. Therefore, while telling him which city you live in is fine, revealing too many details about your locality may not be a very good idea.
3. Do not add him on Facebook yet
You must take the whole online dating thing slow and steady. Minutes after meeting someone interesting on the website, do not hastily ask for a friend request on Facebook or do not give him access to your Facebook account. You must keep all your public accounts separate and exclusively accessible only to those whom you personally know. Giving access to someone you are dating online is risky because you have no idea who the person really is. For all you know, he could be lying about everything he says to you.
4. Let some of your friends know
However weird it may seem, always confide in some of your friends about where you are going to meet someone whom you have met online. Give them exact details about the place and time when you are going to meet someone for the first time. At least some people will know where to look if you go missing. In fact, in order to be absolutely safe, give your friend/s exact details about the stranger’s account, his name, his phone number and everything you know about him before you go and meet him. Even better if they can accompany you secretly and keep a watch from a distance.
