Tips To Avoid Getting Catfished Online

How to figure out if someone is who they say they are

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With dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, Grindr, Her, and OkCupid, the way our culture pursues romance has changed. Instead of trying to flirt with strangers at a bar, we can just swipe right from the comfort of our own homes.

However, as easy as online dating may be, it does come with a considerable risk: catfishing. Although we frequently hear about young, naive teenagers being duped online, catfishing can happen to anyone. In fact, anyone who’s been online dating for any length of time has probably dealt with a catfish at one point or another.

One survey revealed that around 1 in 3 people have been catfished online, and 20% of those victims actually sent money to the catfishers.

Any online dating site will give you the option to report a scammer, but many of these apps have no real defenses against catfishers — it’s up to us to figure out who’s fake and who’s real.

And, while spotting some fake profiles might be as easy as identifying the Nigerian prince asking for money, other catfishers are masters of disguise. Even if there’s no completely foolproof way to prevent getting catfished, here are a few tips to help you make sure the person on the other side of the screen is who they say they are:

1. Use Reverse Image Search

The fastest way to figure out if the person you’re messaging with is real is by reverse-image searching their pictures on Google. This will tell you if that cute selfie they sent you has shown up anywhere else online — like a popular model’s Instagram or Twitter page.

Even if the person you’re chatting looks real, you should still reverse-image search their pictures to double-check before you agree to meet them in real life. Taking photos from someone’s Instagram page or Facebook account isn’t difficult, and you’ll save yourself a lot of time and energy if you can identify a catfish early on.

The good news is that conducting a reverse-image search is easy, and if you don’t already know how, here’s a quick step-by-step guide for computers and for phones.