The famous “never happened to me” could lead you to an encounter with a criminal. With just two minutes of reading, you will protect yourself.
Who never heard of Tinder cast the first stone! This application that appeared in 2012 did not come with the objective of making two people arrange “a date”. This already existed before on several dating sites. Tinder brought a plus. The idea was that people were already interested in each other before they even started a conversation.
That’s why it works with an application that crosses information like Facebook, for example, showing people who are geographically close. Thus, after user registration, he can view profiles of different people with ages, interests, brief descriptions, and especially photos.
In the past, social networking sites did not bring the user a sense of comfort that the person they were talking to was, in fact, “that person”. And now, not only Tinder but the many others that exist, no longer arouse this fear.
So does that mean it’s safe and there shouldn’t be any worries? No! The application may have all the mechanisms to give you security but understand: there is a person behind it, and one should not rule out the hypothesis that whoever is behind that profile could indeed be someone with malicious intent.
For this reason, there’s nothing better than taking some basic precautions so that you don’t fall into the hands of a criminal, and now you need to activate your “stalker” side. Therefore, below I list the main tips before the much-desired meeting.
First, Google. With the amount of information on the internet, it is not impossible to find someone. With a simple search for the name of the person, you will find something. Now, be careful with common names that criminals can use, such as “José da Silva”, “Ana Santos” and so on. It is very easy to discover a liar. If you are faced with this situation, nothing better than a good conversation to extract more information from the person to refine the search on Google.
Second is your joker. When you use Google’s photo search engine, it shows exactly where that file was taken. Just open the photo and see below the name of the same. So, if the user’s name is entered and another person returns, you can now find out if that photo was unduly removed from another profile, or if it is a fake profile.
Third, look for social networks. Facebook, Instagram, and especially Linkedin! After locating the user on social networks, analyze the accounts. Evaluate data such as an address, family, number of friends, and content of posts. A profile with many friends and many photos does not mean a true profile. Evaluate the days of the posts and especially the friends. Criminals buy followers to convey security.
Next, don’t pass on your cell phone number so easily. Criminals can use online tools to access databases that show your full name, CPF, address, family data, among others. In possession of such sensitive information, you could suffer threats, and especially lose money.
Finally, be careful when making an appointment. Choose a public place initially. It is very common for users to make invitations such as “come to my house”, “I’ll meet you in front of subway X”, “I’ll pick you up at your house by car”, etc.
The big problem people have today is thinking that nothing bad can ever happen to them. Every day, people risk their lives to feel the adrenaline of going from the virtual to the real, and they forget basic safety points that their parents warned them about since childhood.
This innovation brought by the internet and which facilitates the relationship between Internet users is indeed incredible, and has many records of users who even got married, but it cannot be left behind that there is little care.
We are not only facing criminals with sexual purposes, but also scammers who seek to extract sensitive data from users through extremely personal questions, in order to obtain some financial advantage.
In the end, know that all relationship apps have a space for complaints, from fake profiles to spam. By following these basic recommendations, there are no problems finding someone you met online.