• People are struggling with making real-life connections online. 
• Unfortunately, finding a good partner while using online dating apps can be a hassle. 
• It is important to have the right tools to help keep yourself safe when using online dating apps. 
• The article below provides useful information for any online dater who needs help finding information about their online date. 

There is something incredible about the ritual of dating. The freshness and its capability can be energizing. On the other hand, the expanding relationship isn't cemented, so there is a desire to prove yourself worthy of your partner’s affection.  

Online dating can either emphasize the excitement of romance or kill it. Getting to know someone you have met through a dating app CAN be tricky- online daters have a reputation for being fickle and playing the field. What’s even worse, your heart is on the line as an online dater, and so is your wallet. Catfishers and other forms of online scammers will play you for a fool and drain your bank account if you let them. 

If your heart is open for love and you want to try the online dating world, you need to be careful. While some may suggest simply allowing yourself to fall in love and follow your instincts, not everyone has the best intentions (and there are MANY manipulative people having fun and making a living off of unsuspecting people). 

If you want to fall in love in a safe way where you can open your heart to someone and have no fear,  it’s quite easy to protect yourself and (hopefully) avoid any mayhem. 

It would help if you remained picky when choosing who you give your time and effort to avoid dangerous or otherwise sticky situations. Don’t just go out with any clown that comes honking your way, as that could get you serious trouble. 

How to Be Vulnerable and Safely Date Online

Being vulnerable is hard in any relationship; I have been married for quite some time now and still struggle with being completely honest and open with my partner. Relationships can be hard, ESPECIALLY when you give your heart to and care for a person. They have your heart in their hands and can either nurture it or squash it to pieces. 

 The same goes for any online dater potentially putting their heart in their hands.  When meeting new people through a dating app, the inorganic fashion of the online dating world and the level of risk involved has to cause stress and concern for anyone who is genuinely involved.

The Corona Virus had people shift their focus to online romance more than ever, and the risk of being a victim of an online dating scam only continued to rise. Furthermore, because people are connecting online through various platforms at an increasing rate, people's identities are more likely to be stolen and even used to create fake dating accounts. Source: MSN

While it is easy to understand why most online daters would want to close their accounts and hearts during these uncertain times, it is also important for many people to keep their social media and dating accounts active to protect their mental health.

So, all internet users must choose how they handle protecting themselves from online predators. If you have any social media accounts, make sure to review your privacy settings so that YOU can choose who sees your photos. You can also occasionally search your name on Google and reverse image search your photos so that you can report any stolen information.

If you are online dating and want to check the authenticity of the person you are connecting with, follow their digital trail. If you can locate your potential dating partner online, you will learn more about them and get a better idea of who they say they are OR whether or not your partner even truly exists. 

For more information on how to learn more about a potential dating partner, you can read the tips below.

Getting to Know Your Potential Partner by Following Their Digital Trail 

Technology has its positives and negatives. Depending on what kind of trail you have left, an online presence can strengthen your image or weaken it. The same goes for the person you are connecting with. If they have secrets, many of those can be online. And if they don’t have an online trail, it's more likely that the person you are talking to via the internet is someone else than what is represented on your screen. 

If you are getting serious with someone you meant online, you may want to find them online and see if they are who they say they are. The best place to start is by running a reverse image search on them. Any picture they have sent you or on their dating profile will work. If they haven’t shown you a picture of themselves and refuse to send you a picture, please run out of the relationship as fast as possible. Likely, they are not who they say they are. It sounds harsh, but it is the truth. There are far too many people on dating apps who aren’t who they say they are. 

How to Perform A Reverse Image Search 

To lookup their image, run an image search on Google. You will need to download the picture onto a desktop/laptop computer as you cannot perform this search on the phone. 

By performing a reverse image search on someone, you might be able to find their social profiles or even if they have stolen their picture elsewhere (they could be a catfish). 

This technique works well if the person you are searching for has posted the same picture elsewhere (such as a social profile or otherwise) or used someone else’s picture that they found online to pass for that person. 

Looking Them up on Social Media 

 If you know their full name or usernames, you can try to locate your potential partner on social media by looking them up using the most popular social media platforms. For example, you can look up their name via Facebook to try and locate their profile or look up their username via Twitter. 

Looking them up on Google 

If you still cannot find your online connection via Google Images or social media search, the next step is to look them up on Google. Again, you can think of anything you may know about them, perhaps their name, a username, a relative's name, a group they might be a part of, etc. 

Google holds far more information than we can fathom. If you can’t find any info on your potential lover on Google, you may have to go to a website that stores online information, such as Wyty. 

Performing a people search by name or reverse phone lookup

If you still are having trouble, your last step would be to search by name lookup or a reverse phone lookup to see if you can get any clues about where they have established themselves online.

By going this route, you can also find out things about them that you might not have found otherwise, such as their email address, related people, other names that they may have gone by, etc. These clues will help you decide if you want to continue your communication with an online connection or bail. 

Bonus Dating Tips

You have to also put in the effort to find the perfect connection. These great bonus dating tips are from dating expert Evan Marc Katz. He recommends doing these three things when getting to know someone romantically:

• Words are powerful- take the necessary time to create a strong and truthful online dating profile. 
• It doesn't matter if you are a male or female- always try to improve yourself. 
• Don't move too fast, no matter how much you like where the relationship is. 

Following our tips and the tips directly above should help you date successfully and safely. 

If All Else Fails…

Ask the person you are talking to why you can’t find any information on them online. Perhaps they are hiding something, and the reason is a good one.

 However, if they are unwilling to share with you about their life, it may be best to move on (especially if you haven’t seen any pictures of them yet). It is definitely best to avoid anyone who isn’t willing to share at least a little bit about themselves so that you can get to know them. Remember that you are putting so much on the line when you open your heart up.