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3 Ways To Quickly Background Check An Online Date

Hey there, Steve here and welcome to another private eye post. Today’s post will look at some fast ways you can run a quick background check on someone you’re about to date.

Warning: None of these methods are foolproof and licensed investigators have access to resources the general public don’t. Safety should be your paramount concern. Check out these safety tips from E-harmony and from Get Safe Online.

OK, so let’s have a look at the ways you can ‘background check’ your dates. If you’re in any doubt or would like us to carry out a professional service for you, please don’t hesitate to use our background check service.

1. Google
OK, I know everyone types their potential partner’s name into Google. This has varying degrees of success depending on how common someone’s name is or if there’s a famous person with the same name. So, what can you do about this?

The first thing you should try is putting the person’s name in quotes (John Doe becomes “John Doe”). Then start adding things you know about them. Try location, workplace, and any other tidbits you glean from your online chatting. If you’re in Melbourne but know your date grew up in a smaller town, try putting that in too.

If your date shares the same name as a famous person, it’s time to get downright sneaky with Google’s advanced search. This means you can filter Google’s results, stripping away the famous person. You can also add a negative keyword to Google by using a minus sign. For example:
“John Doe” -Shepparton
This will return all of the pages about John Doe but remove those also about Shepparton.

Don’t forget to use the other sections of Google – news and images especially.

2. Social Media
There are the ‘Big 3’ social media sites you can use to dig up more information on your potential partner. Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.

Most people haven’t ‘shutdown’ the privacy parts of their social media, meaning you can see their posts. Facebook allows you to search via email address if you have it, but you can also use location, education or workplace information to narrow down your search. LinkedIn is a good place to check out someone’s CV and Twitter is a great place to find out about your date’s opinions, tastes and interests.

Everyone knows what a normal social profile looks like. So if your date’s profiles are thin on the ground, or are all recently set-up, you have to ask yourself why.

3. Police Check
OK, so this might sound a little extreme but wouldn’t you want to know if this person had committed a crime? If you don’t check, when will they tell you about it – if they ever do of course? Lots of people have made mistakes – I completely understand. We can run a background check for you and usually give you details within 24-48 hours. How’s that for fast peace of mind?