Over half of all people admit to lying on their online dating profiles. This is a scary statistic when you also consider that experts estimate that 70% of people will meet their significant others online by 2040.
Do you know how to spot a lier from a truth-teller? It’s not always easy, but there are steps you can take to protect yourself before moving your relationship from online to in-person.
It’s important to do a background check on someone you’re dating. Keep reading for the dating 101 on simple ways to background check someone you’re dating.
1. Start With Google
Wondering the easiest way how to find out information about someone? The answer is simple — Google.
Start by doing a simple search of their full name. Browse through the Google results looking for anything interesting. Usually, this will bring up social media profiles, anytime they were featured in a news publication, and any work affiliations.
But, if they have a very common name, such as John Smith, this may not be very helpful. In this case, it may be helpful to search their name plus the town or state that they live in.
2. Visit Their Social Media Profiles
From there, taking your dating background check beyond the dating website and to their social media profiles.
Their social media profiles should corroborate any information they’ve already told you. For example, their Facebook About section should list where they live, work, and went to school. Odds are you, your potential partner will have already talked about these things with you.
If their profiles are private, it’s as simple as sending them a friend request or following them. If they reject your request, this means they’re trying to hide something or aren’t as serious about your relationship as you thought.
If in the odd chance that you can’t find any social media profiles with the name you were given, this should be a huge red flag. Very few people in this digital age don’t have a social media presence. Especially if they are utilizing online dating sites.
3. Reverse Image Search Their Photos
If you’ve ever watched the MTV show Catfish, you know the value of a reverse image search. Many times, people use someone else’s photos to hide their identity or appear more attractive than they really are.
If this is the case, doing a reverse image search will bring up any other locations where the photo exists online. Check all instances of the photo online to make sure the names and information add up.
If you see several photos with different names using the same phone, you know that something fishy is up.
4. Look up Their Phone Number
Many people never think about searching the person’s phone number. But if you have their phone number, there’s a wide variety of information attached to it that you may not have known.
For example, a phone number can reveal the following:
- Current and past addresses
- Full name and any aliases
- Age and birthday
- Relatives and associates
This site is a great option for a phone number search.
5. Try a State Criminal Background Check
Criminal records are public records, but they aren’t always the easiest thing to find. Depending on which state your potential partner lives in, the process of doing a criminal background check may differ.
Start by searching the State’s website for a criminal record registry. If they have a public one available online, it’s as simple as entering their full name.
If their state requires an in-person request, you can search online for a business that runs background checks. These will come with a price, but it may be well worth it if the search turns up a criminal history.
6. Check the Sex Offender Registry
While a criminal background check should pull up any criminal history, it’s often specific to only showing up in the state that the crime occurred. So if your potential partner committed a crime in another state, you may never find out about it. Instead of conducting a criminal background check for all 50 states, look at your state’s sex offender registry.
When someone is a committed sex offender, they have to register in the state that they live in for the rest of their life. So even if they move away from where the crime occurred, this would follow them.
The National Sex Offender website is an easy place to search for this.
7. Ask Their Friends
Before you make the decision to take your dating life off-line, consider talking to their friends. By this point, you’ve already found their social media profiles, so you should have a handful of potential people to interview.
While this may seem awkward, think about if you were going on a blind date. In this case, you’d ask the person who set you up on the date about the person. Everyone wants to learn about their potential date from the view of those who know them best.
Send out a simple message stating that you met your potential date online and was wondering if you could ask them a few questions. You can then confirm facts about them, like where they work, or ask about how the person has treated their significant others in the past.
Dating 101: You Can Never Be Too Careful
The final tip of dating 101 is that you can never be too careful. You may feel like you’re invading someone’s privacy by running all these searches, but if you find something bad, you’ll be grateful you did.
Always start simple with a Google search, visiting their social media profiles, and doing a reverse image search. Then, you can get more in-depth by looking up their phone number, running a criminal background check, and checking the sex offender registry. Finally, don’t be afraid to talk to their friends to get a better idea of their true personality.
Once you’ve found out your potential significant other is clean, visit the Dating section of this website. There you’ll find advice on how to have the best relationship possible.
