Step Into the Market: Online Dating and People Searches

One of the biggest goals in life is to find someone to love and to respect. Technology has come to the rescue for workaholics, single parents, shy people, and everyone else with online dating. With a simple click, dozens of personal and private ads are there to help find a like-minded mate. The easiness of online dating, though, also makes it risky.. Without a face to face connection, many of our own instincts about people are powerless. That’s where a person search is useful – find the truth before you’re emotionally invested.

The Pitfalls of Online Dating
Online dating has gone mainstream; about 50% of single adults in America have tried an online dating service, and another third have friends who have. Whether it’s through personal ads on sites like Craigslist, dating services like Match.com, or social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, the basic premise for online dating is the same: you upload a personal profile (interests, work, family, faith) and possibly a picture, and can browse other profiles to locate someone compatible.

The biggest weakness of online profiles is that it’s so easy to lie. The most common complaints about online profiles hit the core of who a person is:
• Married and, possibly, with children
• Income level and current job
• Things they own
• Places the person has lived

Some online threats out there can be even more damaging, ranging from spamming to identity theft. And sometimes other people are just predators, playing on the trust and good nature of others. Very few online dating sites have any kind of screening.

People Searches Can Help
A people background search is not about a lack of respect or a violation of privacy. It’s about wisdom to protect yourself and confirm your trust. The little signals that indicate someone is lying don’t show up online, and even honest people smudge the lines of truth a little.

People searches are in-depth background checks, covering everything from property records to court filings, and it can answer the big holes in a profile:
• Where do they live? An address history gives their current address and their known addresses for the past 10 years, a shorthand way to verify their profile description.
• Are they married? A person search checks for both marriage and divorce records. Protect yourself from philanderers – “Technically married” is still married!
• Do they have kids – and how old are they? Young children are an issue for a lot of people – so some profiles leave out kids entirely.
• What is their income level? It sounds mercenary, but money and success do matter. People are most likely to lie about their jobs, income, and assets, but people searches can frequently turn up details about their financial situation, including civil judgments.

A Little More Background on People Searches
There is an important difference between a true person search and simply Googling someone: you know whose information you’re getting. Searching for a name on a search engine can return thousands of hits for unrelated people with a similar name, but does not return vital information, like criminal histories and marriage records. A person search is precise and complete, giving you the information you need.

Basic profile information – current age and city of residence – is enough to narrow people search results to a specific individual, while the people search builds on a more extensive information base, like public databases, military records, and alumni records. People searches also cover aliases (from nicknames to assumed names) for a person, and their known associates, like family members and roommates, invaluable information which simply isn’t available in a search engine.

A good people search company is built on high-quality information. Good information means a variety of public records, extending at least 10 years in the past and updated regularly. The search report itself also contains more pertinent information to the person, like address histories for 15 years, plus marriage and divorce records for specified states. Most importantly, people searches can include criminal background checks (arrests and convictions) and civil proceedings. A sample report (which people search companies will make available) shows the level of detail you’ll get.

Safety First
The big, lurking question: does this person have a criminal record? Finding out is someone has a violent past (like arrests or restraining orders) is a vital safety issue, but it’s a difficult question to ask – so have a people search answer it. A person search is a potential, temporary substitute for your own intuition, so it’s safer to take an online romance into the real world.