Dating safety guides
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Recognising Coercive Control and Manipulation Tactics in Early Dating
Refuge and Women’s Aid guidance on early coercive control signs, including love bombing, gaslighting and jealousy disguised as care.
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Dating While Divorced or Co-Parenting: Privacy and Safety Considerations
How dating safety changes when you’re co-parenting, from protecting your children’s privacy to coordinating with an ex-partner.
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Background Checks Before Meeting Someone From a Dating App: What’s Useful and What’s Overkill
A realistic guide to dating background checks: what they can tell you, what’s legal, and where they cross into overkill or a false sense of safety.
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Ghosting and Ending Things Safely: Online Dating Etiquette When You Want Out
What research says about the real harm of ghosting, why people do it, and a better way to end things, unless safety says otherwise.
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Dating Safety for Parents: Introducing a New Partner to Your Children Safely
Expert-backed timing and steps for introducing a new partner to your children, from co-parent communication to protecting their stability.
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Dating Site Verification Badges: What They Really Mean and Their Limits
A blue checkmark or “verified” badge next to a dating profile carries a lot of implied trust — enough that many people treat it as a meaningful signal that a profile is safe. The reality is more limited than that badge suggests, and understanding exactly what’s being verified, and what isn’t, makes it a genuinely…
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Financial Red Flags in Dating Conversations: Gift Cards, Crypto and Investment Pitches
Money rarely enters a romance scam as an obvious, blunt request. It tends to arrive gradually, wrapped in a story that makes sense in the moment — a medical bill, a stuck visa payment, or an exciting investment opportunity from someone who says they only want to help you too. Recognising the specific shapes these…
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Documenting and Reporting Suspicious Dating Behaviour: What to Save and Who to Tell
If a dating conversation turns out to be a scam, or someone’s behaviour crosses into harassment or threats, what you save in the moment often matters more than you’d expect — both for reporting to a platform and, if it comes to it, for the FBI or police. Evidence that seems obviously memorable at the…
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Personal Safety Apps for Dates: Trusted-Contact and Check-In Tools Beyond Your Dating App
Most dating apps now include some built-in safety features, but a separate category of personal safety apps — designed for any situation, not just dating — can add a genuinely useful extra layer for a first meeting or any date with someone you don’t know well yet. These trusted-contact and check-in tools work on a…
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Dating Profile Red Flags: How to Spot a Fake or Scam Profile Before You Match
Before a single message is exchanged, a dating profile itself can tell you a lot — if you know what to look for. Spotting a fake or scam profile early, before any emotional investment builds, is one of the most effective ways to stay safe in online dating. Here’s what genuinely distinguishes a suspicious profile…