Many individuals in this generation turn to online dating for a quick and easy way to meet people. The reality is that a vast majority of the people online are not true and real and often asks to add onto the personal social media or phone number accounts immediately or discusses partnership to join cryptocurrency. People online are not necessarily who they really are. They can use any fake images from the internet in its place. Here are some signs that the user is fake and other safety tips:
- Asks for Cryptocurrency – most unknown strangers on online dating would talk about Cryptocurrency as their supplementary careers. Anything relating to cryptocurrency are most likely unsafe and are scams.
- Asks to add Whatsapp immediately – immediately upon matching, the user asks to add Whatsapp. By providing your personal Whatsapp, the scammer or stranger would take this personal phone number to send more scams to you and may also commit identity theft.
- Asks to add to Instagram or Facebook – immediately upon matching, the user asks to add to social media right away. These fake users can harvest personal photos and information from your social media in order to impersonate you and create another fake profile under your name. This is one form of identity theft. The stranger would try to get more information about you and use to commit crime and identity theft. Do not add people to social media whom you have never met in person before.
- Most individuals are not local: When questioning them about if they are local, they often make things up, and don’t answer questions directly related to local questions. They are likely from another part of the world. Then will evade questions and will ask to add onto Whatsapp or Instagram immediately.
- Use a secondary social media and Whatsapp account: If you think the stranger is real and is local, you may continue to contact the stranger, provided you use a 2nd account that limits your personal information exposed. Free services such as Textnow.com allows a free secondary number and can be used to registrar a free Whatsapp service using 2nd Messenger on Samsung phones or just using Whatsapp for Business temporarily. Providing the primary accounts to strangers increases the risk of fraud and identity theft.
- Watermark photos: If possible, put an X and watermark your photos.
- Meeting people in person: Meeting in person is more meaningful than texting. If a person is local, they will be willingly to meet in person to chat further. Always meet in a busy public place and tell your friends where you are going and provide your own transportations.
