Online dating has become very popular for at least two decades. As we all know, two people from different countries around the world have managed to find their partners through the help of the internet. Many people have become living witnesses of the benefits of this kind of dating.
However, there are times that online dating has become a nuisance to its user rather than being a helpful companion. This is due to the fact that, along with the legitimate ones, scammers and identity thieves are also using these sites in order to commit their online crimes. As most internet security experts have found out, most online victims nowadays are none other than those people who use online dating sites.
Important Things You Must NOT Put inside Your Online Dating Profile
The truth is, even the most legitimate online dating site is being used as a tool by scammers, identity thieves and even con artists in order to find gullible victims. If you don’t want yourself to become one of those victims, you must make sure that you don’t put this information inside your online dating profile:
- Pictures or Selfies with geotags in them – Most smartphones nowadays have the geo-tagging feature along with their mobile cameras. Unknown to most people, the geo-tagging feature allows the camera to save the location or place where the picture has been taken. Needless to say, this will give the scammers some idea about your true location so you must remember to disable it.
- Your real home address – As we all know, online dating sites usually ask for this information in order for them to give you a dating match who is located near you. However, this information can also be used by online scammers against you so just put other addresses instead of your own.
- Your own phone number – Unless you want strangers calling you in the middle of the night, you must remember not to put your real phone number inside your profile. Instead, just use a Google Voice Number.
- Your Real Work Information – Just like your real home address, your real work information can also be used by identity thieves when committing their crimes. If you don’t want to become a victim yourself, always remember this one.
- Your Personal or Work Email Address – Most online dating sites give your email address to other sites, therefore being the cause of spam emails and clutter inside your mailbox. If you don’t want being bothered by these, you must make sure that you don’t put your personal or work email address inside your online dating profile.