From the beginning of its use, online dating has been widely known and become widely accepted as the new norm. A lot of people sign up on dating app platforms with the goal of meeting the love of their lives.

As much as a lot of people join online dating apps with the goal of finding their true love, it is an undeniable reality that there are some inherent risks that come with online dating.

These include online scams and bullying behavior. Therefore, in order for one to be safe and have a good online dating experience, it is important to be cognizant of possible dangers and practical ways of handling them. What are the Dangers of Online Dating? One of the most common dangers of online dating is a dating app scam. These happen when one truly believes that they have connected with someone that fits their ideal partner, who unfortunately happens to be a scammer.

The scammer uses their talking stage to gain the trust of the people they would like to scam. Eventually, they tend to either ask for money or ask for personal information about the other person to an extent where they are able to steal their identity and commit crimes. On the other hand, not all dating sites are real. In 2022, the Better Business Bureau in the US announced that people had to be careful as there were a lot of fake and scam dating sites that were springing up.

These fake dating sites may not be easy to identify, and they are usually found through online searches and online advertisements. These are normally set up the same way authentic sites would be, requesting email accounts, disclaimers, terms and conditions etc. This is to ensure that these mimic real sites to mislead people. Moreover, even when the dating sites are genuine, there are people who create fake profiles. Some people create these fake dating profiles for marketing their businesses, while others use these profiles for sinister reasons like catfishing people, using these to scam people off. A research study done in 2020 showed that a lot of females experienced some kind of harassment on dating apps. More than half of the women that participated in the research admitted to having been sent sexual messages or pictures without their consent and more than nineteen percent of females reported threats of physical harm.

In the same study, it was found that more than thirty percent of people who use online dating reported that there were users who continued pursuing communicating with them even long after they had been told to stop. In some instances, the stalking can move from the online platform to real-life stalking.

This can happen when the stalker has collected enough information about the other party, such as their home address, where they work and the places they usually frequent. What to lookout for To ensure that you are safe, look out for the following signs: If someone asks for your help and it includes you giving them money.

They usually say they are based in your country but are travelling or working in other countries which is why they are unable to meet you.

They claim to have lost their spouse and have children.

They usually change their profiles and use them on different victims.

They do not straightforwardly answer questions asked.

They shower you with praises and compliments very early in your talking stages.

They ask for your work or home addresses.

They have hard to believe life stories.

They have grammatical errors. Safety Tips: Use a different picture After activating your profile, ensure that you use a different profile picture for your dating app. Do not use pictures that are on your other social media platforms. This is to limit the amount of information that people can have about you. Ensure that you do not disclose personal information.

Do not link your social media profiles to your dating app. This is to protect the personal information you may have on your accounts that may be used by hackers and scammers to steal your identity. Set your privacy settings to ensure the least exposure to potential scammers.

When chatting with someone new on the dating site, it is safer to stay on the dating site and not expand the lines of communication to other apps. This ensures that you are protected as these enable people to block users and report them.

Ensure that you do not communicate with profiles that seem skeptical. If one did not include enough information about  themselves on a profile and there is only one profile picture, this is a red flag. Use your discernment.