Online dating apps and websites will become some of the most active around the internet these days. Millions of people will be staying at home in the United States, the U.K. and many other countries due to health risks associated with the coronavirus. This forces people to socialize online, and dating sites will be having a lot of new members.

Private investigators in Russia want to alert people and offer them tips to be able to date through the internet safely. Keep in mind that Russia, the Ukraine and Romania are hubs for internet romance fraudsters and that they will be trying to catch more new victims during this episode of social isolation.

Covid-19 is not the only global danger we are facing currently. Online dating fraud has been a pandemic for years, and it might get worse if you don’t take safety measures.  “We can’t stress this enough: there is no way to stop online dating scammers other than being cautious and verifying,” says Peter Kossakovsky, Director of Background Checks at Russia PI.

The following are some tips to be safe while dating online.

Know the risks

When people are aware of the risk, they are more likely to be cautious. According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center in the United States, victims reported losing over $475 Million to romance scam. Almost twenty thousand people contacted the authorities to make a report, but there are many more who never did anything about it. The danger is real, it happened to at least twenty thousand people in only one country, and the chances of being one of the victims is greater if you ignore the risk.

Ask everything you need to ask

Ask your online date everything you need to know. Their full names, birthdays, where they work, live or study. If you are in a relationship, you have the right to know this person well. Also ask your friends and family to help and give you advice if something feels off. Third parties are less subjective and can see red flags that you might not be noticing.

Verify it all with evidence

Once you have enough information, hire a private detective in Russia to verify the facts. If your online date has been honest, everything should check out positive. If not, you will have evidence that they are lying. People who are really looking for love will not lie about who they are because their goal is the same as yours, to meet and take the relationship to real life. However, fraudsters make up personas because their intention is never to maintain a relationship but to obtain profit somehow. The internet is the perfect ground to achieve this, but as long as you have evidence you won’t be caught in the lie.

Investigate as soon as possible

You do not know who you are really talking to, so the sooner you get answers, the better. If you were communicating with a Russian criminal, you would like to know it early, before there is anything to be sorry about.  Get clear evidence so you can stay safe and make an informed decision.

For those who prefer staying at home in times of trouble, don’t forget you are not completely safe just because you are staying in. Have fun dating online, and meeting new people on social media, but do not trust anyone unless you have verified they are trustworthy with real evidence.

C. Wright
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