We usually think that things are safer in the American heartland. In regard to online dating that may not be the case. It turns out there is a dark side to online dating in Missouri of all places. We ran across an article from KOAM TV saying that online dating in Missouri is dangerous.

According to recent study the Show-me State is the most dangerous state in America for online dating.

Imagine you meet the perfect person online, setup a date, go out, and a couple of weeks later, you’ve opened up credit cards in other states, or worse, have contracted an STD.

According to “backgroundchecks.org”, Missouri is the worst state in the nation for both of those things to happen from online dating.

The study takes numbers from government reports – and looks at how it could affect those who date online.

On a scale from 1 to 50 – where 1 is the best and 50 is the worst – there, Missouri is 50.

Would that surprise you?

To get more information on the dark side of online dating in Missouri and elsewhere we went to backgroundchecks.org and looked at the study of most dangerous states for online dating.

The use of online dating services and mobile hookup apps is so commonplace and socially accepted these days that it’s hard to remember that merely decade ago, using a service like OkCupid or Match.com carried a heavy social stigma. The internet dating scene was widely viewed as the last resort for the hopeless, terminally undesirable dregs of society. Circa 2007, hardly anyone would fess up to using an online dating service, and those that did or were caught in the act by a pal or coworker would claim that “it’s just for fun, nothing serious, no expectations. I mean, take look at these people!”

Obviously, this is no longer the case. In our post-Tinder world, not only has the use of online dating services and hookup apps become widespread and socially acceptable, by some accounts it is the most common way couples people meet.

With the ease of meeting someone online has come the risk of identity theft with dating apps and the risk of physical harm including contacting a sexually transmitted disease.

The United States is vast, and rates of violent crime, sexually transmitted diseases and identity theft all risk factors for a single person to consider when choosing to date a stranger from the internet vary a lot from one state to another. Some places are much more dangerous for others. That’s why we’ve created this list. In order to help people make more informed decisions in using these services, we’ve ranked all fifty states according to how dangerous it is to use online dating services and hookup apps, with one #1 being the least dangerous and #50 being a veritable minefield. In determining our ranking, we used relevant factors including statewide violent crime rates, infection rates for the most common STDs, and the frequency of identity theft.

Here is their map of the USA showing where the risk is for online dating. Dark colored states are dangerous and light colored states are safer.