What is Catfish?
If you have watched the new documentary, Catfish, you might reconsider finding true love over the internet…or would you? The movie involves “a man in the film building a romantic relationship on the social networking website Facebook, with an attractive girl, and the mysterious results when they go visit her.” (Wikipedia)
Of course we are not here to spoil the movie, however, realize there are always precautions to take when a new individual suddenly appears in your life. Let’s face it – Internet dating is quick, easy, and gives us something to do on a Friday night. By meeting people online, you open yourself up to meeting a lot more individuals who you may normally never run into. The down side of this? You don’t actually know the person who you are letting into your life. Along with this, the quick and easy dating sites, usually don’t require background checks.
Protect Yourself from Online Scams
So how can you protect yourself from getting scammed, getting conned, or even burned from internet dating & meeting new individuals online? Here are some tips that Manhattan private investigator Darrin Giglio would like to share with you:
- Ask the person you are meeting to take a quick photo on a webcam, holding a sign up saying your name or something of the works. This could prove to you their photo is real
- See how many of their friends seem real – do they only have 15 friends on facebook? This may be a sign they are a fake individual
- If they give you an address, check google or whitepages.com to see if it is a real existing address
- If they give you a phone number, do a quick free reverse phone check online to see if the number is registered to them
- If they are asking you to give them money before meeting EVER, get a professional background check to see if they are who they say they are
Get a Background Check to Avoid Getting Catfished
A professional private investigator can tailor a background check to help YOUR individual case. Worried that their phone number is not really registered to the person who you believe you may be talking to? A private investigator can disclose this information. Along with this, a private investigator has the tools necessary to verify if the person you are speaking to is actually who you think. Our investigators use different algorithms depending on how much information our client has, to figure out if the person online is legit and to provide our clients the results they came to us looking for.
Though a private investigator may be pricier than you would like, the information is accurate and up to date unlike websites like Intellius.com, which crawls the internet for FREE data. Next time you are thinking about meeting someone who may be too good to be true or their stories are just not matching up, we suggest ordering a background check.
