Empowering Internet Safety

The recent Netflix documentary, The Tinder Swindler, has left numerous ladies traumatised. The series documented a ten-million US dollar scandal that happened on Tinder, with Simon Leviev being the swindler. 

According to Business of App, there are 270 million global dating app users as of 2020. With the pandemic, more people are prone to dating apps to compensate for loneliness. Sadly, not all lonely hearts are warmed, some are taken advantage of and are left traumatised physically and mentally. Stopping the use of dating apps seems to be impractical to modern men and women who are on a quest to find their Mr. /Ms. Right, thus here are some tips for you when trying to date someone online. 

WHO are you

Verifying the identity of your crush online is always the first and foremost important thing. Just Googling or checking their Instagram account might not be enough. You might want to use a website like Social Catfish to verify if their profile is valid or not. These websites help you check if their emails or phone numbers are used to register multiple accounts. 

During your conversation, you might want to avoid answering questions that sound like security questions, examples like, ‘what is the name of your first dog?’, ‘which kindergarten did you go to?’ or ‘who is your favourite relative?’. Bank account numbers or credit card numbers are certainly not ideal topics to be mentioned. Focusing on common hobbies is usually the safe choice. 

WHERE are you

If you really have to go out for a date, choose public areas that are populous. You may want to avoid cafes or restaurants located in remote areas with little access to public transportation. Do choose locations that you are familiar with as you know where to seek help whenever needed. After confirming the meeting location, you might also want to inform your close friends or families of the time and date of your date. To play safe, you can set a safe word, like ‘red’, ‘doggo’, with your friends or family. Whenever the safe word is triggered, they will give a fake call to bring you out of the awkward situation that you are in. 

HOW are you

Even though your relationship gets closer, it does not mean that you can stay off guard. It is not uncommon to have ex-partners blackmail each other with intimate photos or videos taken during the relationship. Not sending these pictures would be the best precaution, but if you really want to do so, do make sure you ask your partner to delete them upon breaking up. Meanwhile, you might want to adjust your privacy settings of your phone to avoid the leakage of intimate photos.