Online dating makes it easier to find someone to go out with and someone with whom to spend your life. However, the ease of finding the right person with an online dating app is mixed in with the risk of being taken in a scam, losing your identity or being the victim of physical or psychological violence. In the United Kingdom they have kept track of crimes related to online dating. Sky News writes about the dark side of online dating.

Reported crimes related to online dating have risen dramatically in the last five years.

Exclusive figures for Sky News from UK police forces show that 2,054 offences were recorded between 2011 and 2016.

In 2011, 140 crimes were recorded, by 2016 that had risen to 676 – a 382% increase.

In the same period, the number of sexual crimes reported rose from 14 to 106 and violent attacks were up from 29 to 240.

The concern of British authorities is that about one in three dating relationships in the UK starts with an online contact via a dating site or the use of a dating app on a smart phone. The concern of dating app users is that when these apps began their use centered on couples meeting and testing the waters. Today there is a lot more explicit sexual content, chem sex, drugs and alcohol involved. The risk of getting into an abusive relationship has gone up as the use and profile of users of these apps has changed. In fact the apps have not changed and in fact they may have improved when used for the purpose of finding the right person to enjoy a hot first date and progress to a happy relationship. The problem is that the bad guys have found online dating to be a fertile ground for seeking victims. And often times the goal of someone who hunts you down in the online dating world has nothing to do with romance. It has to do with stealing your identity. Identity theft with dating apps is real.

Want to make your online dating easier? You may want to try one of the new and efficient dating apps. Want to have a hacker steal your personal information? You may want to try one of the new dating apps! PC Magazine online says that with some dating apps not only will some hacker in Russia have your social security number and passwords but vital information of the company your work for as well.

“Easygoing, athletic man seeking hacker to loot personal details and corporate data.”

According to IBM Security, more than 60 percent of mobile dating apps are vulnerable to cyber-attacks since they have access to features like the camera, microphone, storage, GPS location, and billing information. Meanwhile, 50 percent of the businesses examined by IBM had employees who had installed dating apps on phones with access to private work data.

The answer to the problem of crimes related to online dating is not to quit using online dating but to exercise good judgement and common sense. When someone you barely know wants your person information tell them no and erase them from your smart phone and don’t answer their messages. When someone suggests drugs and sex please realize that this is a bad combo and typically leads to trouble. This is an example of the old Roman adage, let the buyer beware. Use online dating for the purpose intended, find the love of your life and use common sense to avoid crimes related to online dating.