Are you concerned about online dating sites, thinking that they are somehow at risk by who you might meet online? In general, it is much safer to meet people on Meelovia.com than it is in the real world. If you were to meet someone at any other place, you would be physically accessible to this stranger. Further, you don't know anything yet about this person. When you meet someone online, you can review their profile and only contact people who meet your dating criteria. Could they lie? Sure.. but they can lie in real life as well. We are pleased to give you some security concerns that you should be aware of, some of which are unique to online dating...
Giving out personal information
When you meet someone at Meelovai.com, use our built-in messaging system. Do not rush to give out your personal information. If you give out personal information such as your e-mail address or phone number, there is no longer anything we can do to block further contact. We recommend giving a little bit of information at a time. For example once you have exchanged some messages on Meelovia.com and you are comfortable, then consider instant messaging type applications or e-mail. When you are comfortable then perhaps your phone number.
Meeting the first time
1. When meeting for the first time, Use your own transportation or public transportation; Provide your own transportation to your public meeting place and make sure you have more than enough gas. Never allow your date to pick you up from your home. In fact, your date shouldn't even know your home address yet!
2. Always let friends/family know where you are going on your date, details of who you're going to meet, and what time you plan to be home. If your date is going well and you want to extend it beyond the time specified, call the person you let know about the date and tell them what time you'll be home later.
3. For a first meeting, always meet in a public place where other people are in close proximity. Meet in a well lit public place, during daylight hours, with other people around. Try a coffee shop or restaurant. Bring a friend to protect you in case the date goes badly. You may also want to consider going out with a group of people, or a double date.
4. Wear conservative clothing; avoid suggestive language and jokes.
5. It's always respectful for the man to offer to pay the bill. Unfortunately, some men ruin the gesture by expecting something in return. Therefore it may not be a bad idea for you to go Dutch. Pay half the bill so that you won't feel under any obligation to "return" the favor.
6. Remember that alcohol affects your judgment. The biggest threat to a person's judgment, when on a date, is alcohol. Not only does it affect your judgment, but alcohol also lessens your inhibitions. If you are drinking, keep your drink in sight at all times and don’t get so drunk that you don’t know what you are doing. Better yet, try to avoid alcohol on your first date
7. Take a cell phone or change for a pay phone so you can communicate with friends/family if necessary.
8. Verify your date's name and description using their driver's license.
9. Do not go off alone with your date: Remember - stay in a public place for your first date and avoid secluded areas such as parks. Predators are masterful at building trust and confidence quickly and can take their victims by surprise. It's important never to let your guard down when on a first date. Never assume a man is safe just because he claims to be religious or a gentleman.
10. Don’t let him know where you live: If you want to see him again, arrange a second date and then take it from there. Give him your cell phone number. It's safer to give out a cell phone number instead of your home phone number
11. Always remain alert. Even if you’re having a blast and the chemistry is great, it’s a good idea to remain alert the whole evening. Make sure you have a cell phone on you
12. Trust your instincts. If you feel uncomfortable or insecure, immediately end the date and request someone at the location to escort you to your car or other means of transportation. If something doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. And if you haven’t met him before, and you know at the beginning of the date that something doesn’t feel right, then leave immediately.
Worst Case Scenarios
If cyber stalked, block the offender's email address from your email account and tell Meelovia.com to remove the offender's profile from their site. If necessary, change your email address so it's unsearchable by your stalker.
Immediately report any stalking, sexual assault, or Internet dating crime to your local police. Some police departments have sex crimes and cyber crimes units specifically trained to solve crimes related to online dating. Courts can order online dating companies to remove an offending profile from their site. And, depending on the case, police can run a forensic computer analysis on your computer and the offender's computer. If your offender is unknown, other forensic investigative measures are available to apprehend the offender.
If sexually assaulted by someone you met through an online dating service, get help from your local rape crisis center right away and notify your online dating company/ies to remove the offender's profile from their site.
Online Scams
Online scammers are a real problem on the Internet world. Typically the scammer contacts you from another country and asks for money. They will say that they want to meet you but they need money for their visa, airfare, or even their sick mom. If anyone ever asks you for money, please report them to us immediately! They will not ask you for money right away. First they will ask you for your personal e-mail address or instant messenger screen name (they usually use Yahoo for some reason). They tell you how much they love you and want to meet you, they will send you photos, and they will sometimes even talk to you on the telephone. However they will eventually ask you for money, usually around $250 to $350. Although typically the scammers accounts claim to be women, we have seen a growing number of male accounts trying to scam women - usually older women. Additionally, scammers may ask you to receive shipments, and then forward them to another address. What they don't tell you is that these shipments were made using stolen credit cards, and that you are assisting them in their criminal activity.
Some typical signs of a scammer:
- They immediately ask you for your Yahoo screen name or personal e-mail address, and insist that it's easier for them to talk to you on their personal e-mail address or through instant messaging.
- They tell you their e-mail address in a format such as myname(AT)Yahoo instead of just typing their address.
- Someone says they are in US but they want you to contact them at ".RU" or ".co.uk" e-mail address (instead of .com)
- Their photos are modeling shots (They usually steal them from other web sites)
- They have very poor English, yet they claim to be from the US or UK. Not a sure sign of course, but if you are talking to a blonde Caucasian from Alabama and she talks like English is a second language, it's a clue.
- They tell you that they are a model traveling in your region
- They ask if you will forward packages sent to you to an international address
What you can do about it:
- Again, do not give out your personal information, even your e-mail address, until you are absolutely comfortable in doing so.
- If someone tries to solicit you for money use the reporting link that shows up on every profile, and let us know what happened.
- Do not give money to anyone that asks you for it on the site.
- If you are not sure, just have a conversation with them on Meelovia.com and ask them questions, until you know one way or the other.
Some things Meelovia.com does to prevent online scams
- We have an alert system that monitors for suspicious behaviour such as certain keywords sent in messages or an excessive number of messages sent
- We automatically review members to see if they selected a country other than the one it appears they are coming from based on their network address.
- We are implementing the ability to capture ‘lying members’ as stipulated above and based on that, we have deleted many accounts because of this
- We have created this page to help educate our members
- We highly recommand to prioritize verified Members
Remember - As long as you are smart about meeting new people, and are cautious about giving out your personal information, meeting people on Meelovia.com is extremely safe.
If you have any questions, please contact the team.