Online dating has gone from a fringe activity to the most popular way for singles to mingle and make connections. Everyone from young adults to retirees has embraced this technology, with most online dating websites developing mobile apps for ease of access and usage. Although there are plenty of positives associated with online dating, there is one key factor that has yet to be adequately addressed, and that is safety. When you meet with a person that you met via an online dating app, you are still meeting a stranger, regardless of how much time you might have spent chatting or talking on the phone. So, the question remains; would background checks make dating apps safer for users?
What Are Online Dating Apps Doing to Ensure User Safety?
When you go to sign up for an online dating app, you have to agree to the terms of service. Within those terms of service are pages of paragraphs, filled with legalese on how to properly use their features and services, as well as a place for you to agree that you will abide by these terms. On the surface, everything seems well enough, but the reality is that very few people actually read these terms of service before they click on the checkbox. If everyone were using dating apps properly, there would be little to no risk. These terms of service don’t really do much to deter scammers and unscrupulous types, unfortunately. So, in essence, dating apps are really leaving it up to users to use common sense, trust their gut, and figure out whether a potential suitor is safe or not.
What Safety Measures Are Users of Dating Apps Urged to Take?
Another step that many dating apps take to help ensure user safety is to offer tips and even post articles on dating safely. Users are generally urged not to divulge personally identifying info and to meet in a public place on first dates. These tips have helped people to open their eyes and not be too trusting of strangers, which is a good thing. Some dating apps even suggest the use of disposable internet phone numbers so that users are able to communicate without divulging their real phone numbers. This way, they are able to speak to those interested with them more freely without fear of their decision coming back to bite them.
Evaluating the Best Safety Solutions for Dating App Users
In short, besides relying on your ‘spidey senses,’ you should absolutely use background checks to screen potential suitors. Sometimes people get alarmed when they hear the term background checks, as they assume that they are highly invasive. The truth is that background checks are as comprehensive or cursory as you want them to be. Consider Public Records Reviews, for example, which is a service that users use to look up people by name and confirm certain details. If you wanted to check and see that a dating app user gave his real name and age, you could use a background check website like this to check for accuracy. In the event that you wanted to look up someone for DUI, traffic, and citation records, this site offers those services. Public Records Reviews gives dating app users the ability to confirm that they are going on a date with a person who presents himself honestly. Their advanced search features enable you to check a person’s background for serious offenses and potentially unnerving behaviors that would deter the average person from wanting to engage.
Performing Background Checks Before Going on a Date
In order to make the most out of background checks, you need to perform a search before you actually meet up and go on a date. Sometimes it can be a little hard to gather the information that you need to perform a detailed background check, but if you have a full name and city and state of residence, all the relevant information you need to make an informed decision can usually be pulled up. It is up to you whether or not you want to divulge to your date that you are performing a background check, as it is perfectly legal to do so under these circumstances. As long as you get their identifying information in an ethical manner, such as asking for their name, there is no problem.
Alerting Dating Apps About Problematic Users
By performing background checks on daters, you can save yourself and other users a lot of trouble. If someone has lied or misrepresented themself, you can avoid meeting with them in person and wasting your time. In case of scammers and catfish, you are well within your rights to inform the dating app of how their service is being misused. There is usually a button on each user profile where you can report suspicious activities for your convenience. In short, background checks do make dating apps safer for everyone. At present, there are few dating apps that will perform background checks in order to guarantee user safety. The good news is that you are free to do them yourself on anyone that you are considering going on a date with.
