Ahead of Valentine's day, Beware of Tinder Romance Scammers; know online dating safety tips

After the shocking tale of the Tinder Swindler who scammed women, for Valentine's Day, know these online dating safety tips.

When you venture into online dating for Valentine's Day, these Tinder safety tips will show you how to protect yourself from a Tinder Romance Scammer (Sammy Williams/Unsplash)

The Netflix documentary Tinder Swindler has made people more aware about the dangers of online dating. While these types of dating scams, also known as romance scams, have always existed, they are becoming quite frequent now. Yes, online dating can be very scary! With Valentine's day just a weekend away, it is extremely necessary to be aware of online dating safety tips to keep these Tinder romance scammers away. Tinder, understanding the gravity of the situation, has now released its own online dating safety tips that will help all users in protecting themselves from any malicious incident. And these scammers are not just on the Tinder app. They can be on any platform from Facebook Dating to Bumble and Hinge. While you use any of these online dating apps, do keep these safety tips in mind and protect yourself this Valentine's day.

There are various kinds of frauds that exist in the online dating world. Some of the popular type of scams include phishing where the scammer steals personal and financial information from the victim, identity theft where the scammer steals social security information like Aadhaar, PAN card to impersonate the victim, catfishing where the scammer pretends to be someone else and more.

So, the need to protect yourself from the next Tinder Swindler or the Tinder romance scammer is very high. Check out these online dating safety tips shared by Tinder to protect yourself on Valentine's day and thereafter too.

How to protect yourself from scams while using online dating apps

1. Believe your intuition: Understand that your intuition is your greatest wingman. Always make a decision based on your judgment. If something does not feel right, walk away, stop communicating, unmatch, block and report.

2. Take a look at their Photos: Scammers rarely use their own photos, so consider running a reverse image search on Google to see if their profile photo is used elsewhere on the internet. To run a reverse image search, simply take a screenshot of the image and check it either through Google lens, or turn on the desktop mode in your browser, go to Google Images and click on the camera icon.

3. Ask questions, make them answer: Much like you would in getting to know a potential friend or prospective employee, get to know people on a personal level by asking all of the relevant questions- even private ones. Don't hold back your questions out of hesitation. The only way to be sure is by asking the questions that come to your head. Also, read their responses and see if they are reluctant to provide any information which is not supposed to be sensitive.

4. Keep your social media private: Scammers can use details shared on social media and dating sites to better understand and target you. Avoid sharing personal details about family and friends, your home or work address or your daily routine

5. Never send money online to a stranger: Cyber Cell Delhi advises to never send money to someone you meet online, including providing credit card numbers, bank account information, wire transfers, your social identifying number or any other personally identifiable information.