How to Stay Secure While Online Dating

How to stay secure while online dating. Online dating continues to evolve and grow in popularity. Online dating offers an easy and convenient way of meeting a partner without the need for endless face-to-face dates.

This is especially beneficial now since people are not able to meet partners through traditional means due to the Covid-19 guidelines of staying at home and practicing social distancing.

But, even with all its goodness, online dating comes with some security risks that you need to be aware of. Keep reading to find out more.

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Security Risks of Online Dating

To use a particular online dating app, you often have to fill in some personal information like your name, occupation, location, and much more.

The problem is that the website or app you are using may not be as careful with your user data as much as you’d like them to be, exposing you to a variety of cyber risks. Let’s look at some of the risks you are likely to encounter when online dating.

Online Dating Scams

While dating online, you’re likely to meet scammers who create fake profiles to try and create a rapport with their potential victims. And, since your aim is to build a relationship with the person you meet online, which means building trust, then it becomes easy to fall victim to online dating fraud.

Must Read – How To Protect Yourself From Online Dating Scams

Webcam Blackmail

After getting familiar with someone from an online dating app, the two of you may decide to take it a notch higher and engage in webcam sex, which may involve taking off your clothes. What you may not know is that the other person could be recording you and may, later on, blackmail you with the video unless you pay them a certain amount of money.

Ways to Protect Yourself While Online Dating

Here are some of the things you can do to ensure safety and security even as you enjoy the benefits that come with online dating.

Use a free Google Voice Number to contact your “partner’ ’until you feel completely comfortable with them to use your real number
Have a video call with your date before the actual meeting, to get a glimpse of what they look like. This will also help you reduce the risk of meeting someone else purporting to be your date.
Ensure your first date is at a public place. You can even go further and have a friend or family member around the place should something go wrong.
Use a VPN to protect yourself while on online dating platforms. A simple VPN download could be all you need to ensure your personal data is hidden from online dating scammers.

Online dating is a lifesaver especially now that we can’t go out to meet our potential partners. It is, however, important to take precautions while interacting with people on online dating platforms so that we don’t end up risking our lives or being scammed.