So what are the reasons people use online dating? Is it really to find a lifetime partner? Or is it more often than not only ever used to find a sexual partner? Is it to have an affair? Kaspersky did some work on generating online dating statistics behind why both male users and female users sign up to online dating sites.

Some of their findings were quite surprising. While the majority of people did admit that they have used a dating site simply for fun, a large proportion of people use them to find friends, too. The next largest reason is perhaps an intention that sits somewhere in between finding friends and just having a good time - around a quarter of all users or online daters, users say they sign up to sites or apps to have a good time with an interesting person.

There are, of course, people who use it with the more commonly believed stereotypical intentions in mind. However, in terms of people using online dating sites or apps to find a serious relationship or marriage partner, men still were the biggest group to admit to using them for this intention.

This is perhaps surprising - many people would imagine that it is women who used online dating as a means to find a committed partner. Dating online in the main remains safe.

If you use online dating as a way to meet other female users or other male users, you will be totally secure as long as you follow a few recommendations to maintain your safety at all times. These measures protect two parts of your life - both physically if you ever meet someone you have contacted online and also your online data. Both are crucial to keeping secure so that you do not fall victim to any crimes. With respect to your online data, it is imperative that you secure your networks and your devices.

This means using strong passwords and password management systems to ensure that your devices cannot be hacked into.

Secondly, ensure that you are always using a secure network. If you are in your home, protect your own network by using a password - again with the help of a password management system - and if you are out, ensure that you either do not divulge any passwords over the network you're using or any sensitive data. This means you never tell the people you are contacting your address, your bank account details, or any other unique identifiers that can work towards a picture that helps an online criminal commit identity theft.

Secondly, ensure you do not become part of another horrible set of statistics as a person that has an ill-fated meeting with a person they have met online. Both men and women are both capable of falling victim to someone who says they are someone they are not. There are some men and women out there that use online dating sites to meet others with wrongful intentions. To ensure that you protect yourself against these men or women when you use online dating, try to meet them in public places until you are sure they are safe.

Always tell others where you are going and who you are meeting too so that they know your movements in advance. All these things will work towards maintaining your safety at all times.

With the rise of internet dating, there has also been a rise in how people abuse the system of online dating sites and apps. As such there are, quite rightly, a number of concerns the public has when they are dating online and meeting other men and women through the use of the internet. The implications of this are large and can have a material impact on a user's life if hackers do in fact manage to get their illegal software installed on users' handsets and networks. Many more concerns continue along the same vein with a similar portion of all users admitting their worries.

Additionally, there are some other more physical worries and concerns that users say prey on their minds. Some male users and female users of a dating site or app say that they worry about meeting up with someone in real life who is not who they say they are. From there, users either are anxious that at best the person they eventually meet has simply lied about their physical appearance or worse that they are a criminal seeking out vulnerable people to attack in either a physical or psychological way.

Yet of all the concerns that users were questioned about, less than half of them admitted that they worry about the fear of rejection. Given all the pitfalls that can happen from being too relaxed about giving out your personal information over a dating site or app, many people do try to hold back on what they say about themselves. This can be counter-productive, however, when you are trying to meet someone online, how long does it take before online daters start giving out personal information.

The general statistics from Kaspersky found that there was broadly a fairly balanced approach to how long divulging details take. For some, it takes more than several months, yet for others, it takes just minutes or hours. Breaking down these online statistics further, a quarter of all female users take more than several months to give out information.

But in this day and age, where we all use online dating far more and it is so much more accepted by our culture, how many users lie on their profile? Looking at the statistics, the biggest proportion of users that lie on their profiles tend to be those in their late 30s to mids. Of that group, the ones most likely to lie are male.

They say that they do this for fun , though it is not clear what they lie about to get their kicks from. Other interesting statistics are that younger women or men, in the 16 age group are likely to lie on their profiles to protect themselves. It is female users in this group particularly that are most prone to do this. Finally, one very interesting set of online statistics comes from those that want to use online dating as a way to meet people, but they lie because they are afraid that they will be recognized by others that they know already.

Plus, broadly speaking, this is a reason that is common across all age groups and both genders. Younger women are just as likely as older men to lie on their profiles to stop themselves from being recognized by friends or acquaintances.

While they can be very successful, a lot of people still have to go through a lot of rejections or radio silence from people they message. Bearing this lack of statistics in mind, it is good to take a more qualitative approach to improve your hit rate if you are struggling to make a match. Ensure that you are actually messaging people that say they are into someone with your character or physical traits.

It is, therefore, recommended that if you use online dating, wherever you are in the world to be as honest as possible. If you like someone, you would be crushed to find out that they were not who they say they were after you continued to contact them. You, therefore, need to have a similar approach to the men and women you contact when you use online dating as a means to meet people. That respect for their wants will go a long way.

There are a couple of categories of downsides to online dating. The obvious is that the relationship started after using an online dating site is not what they wanted it to be.

By far, women are the biggest of the online dating statistics that have found themselves to be on the receiving end of negative behavior, like being contacted continually after asking not to be. According to the statistics, some have even been subjected to being sent sexually explicit texts or images when they were not asked for. That is not to say that only female online daters say they have experienced this type of behavior. A large percentage of male users found in our statistics say that they have been subjected to the same sorts of actions from the users they have interacted with.

While this seems to be a huge downside to online dating, it is possible to argue that this would happen in the realms of dating that started in more traditional routes too.

Bearing that in mind, it is important to also be aware of a downside to online dating that cannot occur when meeting potential partners in more traditional ways. Being the victim of identity theft is a huge problem with online dating, and online dating statistics have shown that the technical or data leak problems that have come about due to the use of online dating are substantial.

These statistics are quite stark. Another large increase can be seen when users are asked to share private or sensitive details. There are a number of downsides to the use of online dating - a few of which we have mentioned here already which a number of statistics and studies have emphasized.

One of the biggest downsides is when you meet someone who has different intentions to you for the results they want to see from using dating websites and apps. This can mean that you may want to meet men or women that want just sex after they contact a person they have met online, while you were actually signing up to a site's service to start relationships.

Other downsides include meeting someone who is not who they say they are. This lying can have small or large ramifications. It could be that the men or women you have been messaging are simply lying about their height or true hair color. However, it could also be that the men or women you are messaging are wrongful intentions behind meeting others online. They may be using websites as a means to find their victims for their sex crimes or other physical abuse, or they may be trying to meet others who are vulnerable so that their financial status can be taken advantage of.

Finally, sadly the statistics show that being a victim of online crime is also a possibility when you use online dating as a means to meet other men or women. The reason being is that you are more likely to divulge sensitive information to a person you believe you can trust.

Online criminals around the world sometimes use online dating websites as a way to build up that trust with naive members of the public. Their tactics can be very underhand and sophisticated so some do not even notice that they are providing the person at the other end of the internet connection with sensitive data.

Plus many statistics show that too many of us are guilty of not using strict or stringent enough security measures while we are online. This means protecting our devices with passwords and ensuring that our accounts in whatever apps or dating websites we use are protected with strong passwords too. Importantly these passwords all need to be different and it also helps if we all use antivirus software to protect against any infections that hackers may spread through dating websites or apps.

Many members of the public who are considering online dating will be interested in the statistics on the success rate of online dating. Additionally, it was found that almost a third of all asked knew someone who had met their partner online. While potential online daters may have wanted better-looking statistics, it may be a good idea to bear in mind what the answers would have been if the question had asked if people knew any men or women who had ended up in a long-term relationship established via more traditional means.

It is important to bear in mind that not every couple stands the test of time when they meet in a bar, through friends or at college.

It is hard to answer whether compatibility algorithms really work as there are too many variables to create a scenario where there is a fair test involved. The reality of the situation behind online dating is that, as it increases your chances of dating at all, you are more likely to hook up with someone - arguably that could be the algorithm working or simply your increased dating that has helped.

Perhaps one of the less thought-about online dating statistics is how to stay safe while dating online. Yet, it is incredibly important for us all to do this so that when we meet someone, we know we are going to meet someone who has been telling us the truth. While some people may tell the odd white lie about their height or other parts of their appearance, some people lie about their true intentions of being on a dating site in the first place. Here are six sobering facts about online dating services and a few suggestions for routing around the privacy pitfalls.

The most pressing concern is that information about you may be exposed to future legal requests that might involve a criminal investigation, a divorce case, or even a legal tussle with an insurance company.

As Joseph Bonneau explained , the main website provides an obfuscated URL for the photo to anyone it deems has permission to view it. What you can do about it: Look at the privacy policy of a website before you sign up and see what they say about how they treat data of deleted profiles. Remember that a privacy policy can change at any time; even if a site promises to discard your data upon deletion now, it could revise that policy tomorrow to hang on to data for a few months — or forever.

If you decide to sign up for a dating site, consider taking a few steps to make it harder for a dating site to easily identify you.

Get a throw-away email address, avoid using your name, and avoid paid sites that would elicit your credit card number and billing information. To maintain the highest levels of privacy, consider taking steps to obfuscate your IP address, such as using a VPN. Gaping security holes riddle popular mobile dating sites-still. In January, an Australian hacker exploited a security flaw in Grindr, the mobile app that allows gay and questioning men to find sexual partners nearby through the use of GPS technology.

The vulnerability allows an attacker to impersonate another user, send messages on his behalf, access sensitive data like photos and messages, and even view passwords. Your profile is indexed by Google. Even something as small as a unique turn of phrase could show up in search results and bring casual visitors to your page.

Your pictures can identify you. Users hoping to create a barrier between their real identities and their online dating profiles might use strategies such as pseudonyms and misleading information in a profile to obfuscate their identity. However, just changing your name and a few facts about your life may not be enough. If you use a photo on your dating site that can be associated with one of your other online accounts—for example, if it had previously been shared on your Facebook profile or LinkedIn profile — then your real identity could be easily discovered.

What you can do about it: Face it no pun intended : there are a number of ways your online dating profile can be connected to your real identity, especially if you have a robust online life. Photos are a particular vulnerability. Try searching for the image using TinEye and Google Image Search before uploading it. And be aware that search technology and facial recognition technology is rapidly evolving. This might be a particular concern for individuals who use niche dating sites, such as HIV-positive or queer dating sites.

Your data is helping online marketers sell you stuff. The cynics among us might think this is the primary purpose of an online dating site. The operators of these sites cull vast amounts of data from users age, interests, ethnicity, religion, etc. In addition, last October researcher Jonathan Mayer discovered that OkCupid was actually leaking 1 personal data to some of its marketing partners.

Information such as age, drug use, drinking frequency, ethnicity, gender, income, relationship status, religion and more was leaked to online advertiser Lotame.

What you can do about it: You should consider contacting the sites you use to clarify their practices and letting them know your concerns. If you are dissatisfied with a company's practices with sharing data, you might also consider filing a complaint with the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse's Online Complaint Center. Remember, part of what helps companies change practices is public interest in an issue, so blog posts and public discussion can help push companies to adopt better practices. HTTPS support is a wreck on many of the popular online dating sites , meaning you risk exposing your browsing history, messages, and much more when you use them.

Unfortunately, our recent survey of major online dating sites found that most of them were not properly implementing HTTPS. Some online dating sites offer partial support for HTTPS, and some offer none at all.

This leaves user data exposed. For example, when a user is on a shared network such as a library or coffee shop, she may be exposing sensitive data such as a username, chat messages, what pages she views and thus what profiles she is viewing , how she responds to questions, and more to an eavesdropper monitoring the wireless connection. Even worse, poor security practices leave her vulnerable to having her entire account taken over by an attacker. See our in-depth post on OkCupid to learn more.

What you can do about it: Start protecting yourself immediately by installing HTTPS Everywhere, a Firefox addon created and maintained jointly by EFF and the Tor Project. When you use Firefox, HTTPS Everywhere will automatically change URLs from HTTP to HTTPS on over a thousand sites. EFF is individually contacting online dating sites to get them to step up their security practices, but we could use your help.

Please send an email to OkCupid to tell them to safeguard user privacy and security. In a victory for users, Slack has fixed its long-standing retention problems for free workspaces. Instead of holding onto your messages on its servers for as long as your workspace exists, Slack is now giving free workspace admins the option to automatically delete all messages older than 90 days

Online dating websites have made it easy for those looking to put themselves out there without having to go out and search; and it has given the ability to millions of people the capability to find long-lasting and meaningful relationships.

Oftentimes, online dating scammers tend to stick to the same cookie-cutter methods when deceiving their victims. However, there are more than a few that are more widely used and should be looked out for.

Today we are going to go over the top online dating scams, so you know what to look for and add a few ways that can be put to use if you suspect you may be at risk of becoming a victim yourself. This will also give them the ability to send one to the victim when asked. Using this will allow you to view every website that has that photo in their database, giving you the ability to see whether or not that photo is connected to more than one name. If it is, then it is almost certainly stolen.

Most online dating scammers are located within another country from far away overseas, which means they have an accent. This, however, cannot go on forever, so if they continue avoiding phone calls over the course of weeks, then this should raise a red flag.

They also avoid phone calls because they will not have a local number, and if they do, it will be an online VOIP number, which would cause suspicion to the average person. They go to the airport ready to hop on a flight, yet when they arrive, they suddenly find out that they lack funds to pay for their Visa. Some may even explain that they need a minimum bank account balance, so when asked to send money for this reason, block and report them right away.

It could be that they simply use overly extravagant words, or that they try too hard to sound perfect. In other words, they attempt to sound extra formal. Most online dating chats are casual at best; especially after a few messages have been exchanged.

These are words typically not used in casual chats and are definitely very commonly used by scammers trying to overcompensate and deliver. It may not be a surprise when we say that online dating scammers do not want to meet you in real life, at least in most cases.

Most of the time, these individuals will create a false emergency almost every time the victim asks them to come and visit. This may be hard to notice at first, especially if the scammer is using a good script. However, if they do this more than once or twice, this is obviously a scammer trying to find another victim — unless, of course, he is the unluckiest person on earth.

This would be a great opportunity to video chat with them, so that you can judge his responses when you ask hard questions that may be difficult for him to answer using scripts while on a live call.

We usually recommend in some of our guides to request a video chat to people who may suspect they are talking to an online dating scammer; and with reason.

This gives you the ability to really pay attention to their facial expressions and responses, thus giving you the ability to judge their responses and determine whether or not they may be using a script.

Video chatting can give you the opportunity to ask hard questions, which can make a scammer slip up due to the script failing to have a proper response. Scammers know this, which means in almost all cases, they will avoid it at all cost. Simply asking for a video chat and being denied multiple times is a dead give away that you are chatting with a scammer. Anonymity and security is something all online dating scammers love to have, and this is something they cannot get on most online dating websites.

Usually within a day or so, they will request that you both move over to email or another platform, such as Google Hangouts , to continue chatting. Beware, though — this only gives the scammer a much less of a chance of being banned on the dating website and gives him a bit more privacy.

If someone asks you to move onto another platform to continue the conversation where it left off, this should immediately raise a red flag. However, if asked to move to Snapchat or Instagram, this may not necessarily be a scam; but this is where proper judgment should be used. We find that it is extremely common for online dating scammers to quickly fall in love with their victims.

These individuals try their best to fast forward things as quickly as possible so that they can take money from you sooner, rather than later. Sadly enough, victims do not usually notice this, as most victims of romance scams are already vulnerable, although definitely not all. If you are told by someone on an online dating website or even social media that this person loves you and it has only been a week, this should undoubtedly be cause for suspicion.

This is by far the most known scam and is a very popular method used by those looking for new victims. This will initially begin with an individual being contacted by the scammer, who will then explain how he is deployed overseas, for example.

This is used because Americans tend to trust their Military — for good reason. However, when you are contacted with someone claiming to be in the Military right off the bat, this should raise a red flag for most, although like with others, some good judgement is required.

After all, there are millions of service members. Almost all online dating scams involve money in one way or another. Sometimes they may ask very quickly within a week, for example.

However, sometimes they may wait for months to ask for money in order to gain your trust; especially if they plan on asking for a more substantial amount of money. The most common scammers will typically ask for smaller amounts at first, but will suddenly begin asking for much bigger amounts. These online scammers have numerous amounts of scams that they use and sometimes they can be extremely creative when making them.

A large weak point that is very typical of online dating scammers is their social media. More often than not, they forget to both build structure such as lack of friends, page likes, posts and photos. Sometimes, they even have a personal social media account that has their real name and photo. Most online dating scammers like to use stolen photos taken from other social media accounts; and may even use a stock photo. Typically, if more than one name is connected to that photo, then it is stolen.

Anonymity is something almost all online dating scammers want, which means in almost every circumstance, they avoid video chats at all cost. If you suspect that you may potentially be falling victim to a romance scam, request to initiate a video call with this person. If they deny this and make excuses, especially more than twice, then this is a huge red flag; and you should take extra precautions.

Online dating scammers are not located within the same country as the victim in most cases, which means that they will likely have an accent. The scammers know this, so they will almost certainly not accept a phone call from their victim. Not only could this possibly expose the scammer as not being a local, it would also give the victim a chance to ask hard questions, which means the script that the scammer uses may not be nearly as effective. If you are denied a phone call, especially more than twice, then that should be considered suspicious.

This should go without saying, but if you suspect someone may be trying to scam you, ask hard questions. You might be wondering what those are. Doing so allows you the opportunity of letting them slip up and make an answer that is completely incorrect. On almost every occasion, scammers will inevitably ask you for money.

Sometimes this can start small, and usually happens within the first few weeks, although it can happen after months have passed. However, if you are asked to send money for any reason, this should immediately raise a red flag.

Never send money to anyone online, especially those who you have never met in real life. Personal information should be kept exactly what it is called: personal. Online dating scammers may not directly ask for money from you, but instead ask for personal information and take it themselves; and may even steal your identity. Never give anyone on an online dating website your social security number, banking details or your home address.

Doing so could lead to huge legal issues such as bankruptcy, identity theft and, in some extreme cases, jail time. Most of the scripts that are used by online dating scammers include certain keywords to use when they are grooming their victims. These keywords are used to try and drag you into a romance trance, which will lower your guard, making you much more vulnerable to his request. It is important that you perform a quick background check on who you are actually speaking to on the internet you can do that here.

The common questions that spring to mind are:. To help the users of this site we have partnered with BeenVerified so you can check exactly that. This checking service reveals everything about this would be romance scammer and if they are a real person! Helpful Information Available on BeenVerified :. If you have the slightest doubt about who you are speaking to… Please use this service! Throughout this guide, you have learned how to spot an online dating scam; and also what you can do to prevent yourself from becoming another victim.

Online dating scammers spend a lot of time polishing their scripts and treat this like their full-time job. We have seen many victims lose out on millions of dollars each. Some have even gotten married, only to end up divorced and broke due to Sugar Daddy scams. The key takeaway from this guide should be to never send money to anyone online, most particularly a potential romance; and this goes for private information too.

Never do anything online that you may regret in the future, as some online dating scammers will use this to extort you. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Stay vigilant. Brian Rucker writes about all things related to online dating and lifestyle. He has written hundreds of articles, specializing in online dating scams, and has written other fun and exciting topics in the online dating space. Read more of Bryan's articles.

It is important that you perform a quick background search. org , an advocacy group against scammers since , has partnered with BeenVerified.

This background search service reveals everything photos, social profiles, criminal records, etc. about this would be romance scammer! If you have the slightest doubt about who you are speaking to… please use this service! Search On BeenVerified Now.

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by Bryan Rucker. Quick Navigation. Written by Bryan Rucker Brian Rucker writes about all things related to online dating and lifestyle. Premium Snapchat Scams: Read this to avoid the Snapchat Girls trap. Offerup Fake Sellers: How to Avoid Offerup Scams.

Furthermore, it was also found that women are more likely to report negative interactions on dating platforms. Anonymity and security is something all online dating scammers love to have, and this is something they cannot get on most online dating websites. Everything changed when the COVID pandemic came. Even worse, poor security practices leave her vulnerable to having her entire account taken over by an attacker. This, however, cannot go on forever, so if they continue avoiding phone calls over the course of weeks, then this should raise a red flag. com as of April Percentage of US Adults Who Used Match.

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