11 Reasons to Do a Background Check on Your Online Date

Thanks to online dating, finding matches for casual or long-term relationships is now relatively easy. Unlike in the past, when you often had to develop lots of self-confidence and physically interact with someone you fancied to get a date, online dating has taken most of the effort out of finding matches. 

To join a dating platform, you’ll need to provide details, including tastes and preferences, to help the algorithm find potential matches with similar interests. While all these conveniences are amazing, there are several risks involved with joining dating platforms. Many people have fallen victim to scammers and catfishers masquerading on these platforms. This piece delves into why you should always conduct a background check on your online date.

1. To Check for Red Flags

There are many dining and entertainment locations you can go to on a first date. However, the safety of these locations depends on many factors, including the temperament of your date. So, it’s necessary to do a background check to find out someone’s legal records. This information should reveal if they have any arrests or criminal records. Consequently, it should help you ensure your safety and avoid being in a private place with a criminal.

2. Peace of Mind

Whether you’re going on a date at night or during the day, you’ll arguably feel more confident knowing the person you’re going to meet has a good record. People with violent pasts or aggressive behavior have the potential to misbehave on dates. When you research and confirm that they’re of good moral standing, you’ll be psychologically secure, knowing the date will likely end well.

3. To Prevent Being Catfished

Most catfishers on social platforms use fake personalities to chat with and sometimes scam unsuspecting victims. Catfishing continues to be popular since most online daters ignore the significance of investigating their partner’s background. Before interacting with someone new, it’s wise to find their contact information and verify their real identity. You can use the results from the search to unravel personal information and compare that to their online dating profile.

4. To Investigate Their Online Activity

While some people don’t attack other users physically, they can use social media as an alternative. You can gauge someone’s behavior and temperament based on what they post. You can research what kind of content they frequently post to understand their behavior. You can do a personal investigation or leverage online services that can help reveal your date’s online behavior on different social sites.

5. To Check For Any Suspicious Records Linked to Their Aliases

People sometimes use aliases or pseudonyms when engaging in criminal activity or suspicious behavior. If you know your date’s nicknames or alias, you can check them up for any reported cases. If you don’t know their aliases, you bring it up during your conversations or check their social media profile for their nicknames, even in the comments with their friends. It’s good to know your date’s criminal records to understand their personality on and off social media.

6. For Confirming Address Histories

When you’re building online connections, honesty is very important since it defines trust in relationships. If your friend lies about their physical address, that’s a red flag. You can do a robust lookup of their past and verify their address history for any inconsistencies. It’s common for people to use VPNs to hide their real location for security and malicious reasons. So, doing a background check on their real location would help confirm their reason for doing it.

7. To Avoid Romance Scammers

There are many scammers out to capitalize on people’s weaknesses. For the elderly, for example, scammers know that most of them are lonely and desire some social interaction. Most of these scammers use fake personas and pose as interested partners only to request endless cash favors later. They also avoid physical meetups at all costs but always call for financial assistance. Carrying out a background check can help you confirm someone’s true intentions so you can avoid these scammers.

8. To Confirm Their Marital Situation

Some people rarely reveal their real marriage statuses on dating platforms. They know that doing so could lower their chances of finding matches online. Since not all states and jurisdictions make divorce and marriage documents publicly accessible, you need to carry out your research. You can browse their friend’s pages for photos or updated information about their relationships with the person in question.

9. To Discover Sex-Related Offences

Different states have their registries with information on sex offenders. To be convicted of this crime means that a court ruling confirmed that the individual was found guilty of a sex-related crime. When someone’s name is on such a registry, they’re required to publicly avail information such as their current address. If you’re not comfortable going on a date with someone convicted of a sex offense, you can cancel the date early on.

10. To Verify Their Employment Background

Whenever you meet someone new, it’s normal to want to know where they studied or currently work. You can easily tell whether you’re being catfished or if someone is using a fake persona by verifying their educational background. Since dating sites typically don’t ask users to provide their background, you can ask them directly, then confirm with a background check. You can visit their social media profiles and confirm whether they’ve updated their educational background information.

 11. To Confirm Whether They Have a Restraining Order

Before linking up with someone you met online, first investigate their records. Are they of good moral standing? If they have a restraining order against them, it means they’re probably not of good moral standing. Such an order is usually given to prevent someone from violating another person’s privacy. If you’re uncomfortable going out with such an individual, cancel the date early on.

In Conclusion

With growing cases of online fraud and dates gone wrong, carrying out a background check on anyone you meet online is paramount. Many people misrepresent themselves on their online dating profiles to make themselves appear more desirable or trustworthy. That’s why it’s important to verify the information they provide. Taking the time to conduct a background check can help ensure your safety and peace of mind when meeting someone new.