Dating Safely With Searchmate
In an age where more and more people are dating and looking for partners. In a market place that has expanded exponentially since the launch of Match.Com. in the UK in 1998, it is very easy to get carried away and bitten by the dating bug. But please do it very carefully. Our new guide Dating Safely with Searchmate is a mine of information on how to best keep yourself safe when seeking new partners. Please see how you can obtain your own free advance copy later on in this article.
There are more than 1400 dating sites and dating agencies in the UK alone in a market that is approaching £1 billion per annum in revenue, but not everything in the garden is perfect with dating related crimes and dating fraud soaring too. Recently more than 54% of online daters felt they had been contacted by someone who had seriously misrepresented themselves online. In terms of the truthfulness of their profile, the age of their photos, their height and/or weight, their occupation or their marital/relationship status. As well as that 28% felt that they had been approached by someone who made them feel uncomfortable or had harassed them.
2016 will it be remembered for the wrong reasons?
For more and more people keeping safe in the search for new partners is becoming a really serious consideration. In 2016 alone we have seen a further murder involving people who met on Plenty of Fish and another involving Oasis, we have also witnessed the very high profile Match.Com rape trial. This was where their client Jason Lawrence was jailed for life at Derby Crown Court, for 6 rapes and an attempted rape.
With the trial of Stefano Brizzi. Who is alleged to have murdered and dismembered the body of a serving Police Officer Gordon Semple. Who he had met on a Dating App, due to start at the Old Bailey in London later this month. 2016 has been notable for many of the wrong reasons in the dating world and at Searchmate we are extremely keen to offer a safer, more confidential alternative to high profile online sites. Ensuring our members are dating safely and with confidence. With many online sites the client’s personal details and photographs are very high profile and extremely easily accessed by anyone who wishes, often non-members too. They can also often be easily found on Google and other search engines.
The launch of our own Dating Safely Campaign
Shortly in conjunction with our Regulator the Dating Agency Association, we are planning to launch our own Dating Safely Campaign. This is to help raise awareness of the dangers that are associated with online dating and promoting the safe, confidential and more professional alternative that joining Searchmate provides.
We will be providing a comprehensive guide to keeping safe whilst seeking new partners. This will be free to all that request it. For an advance copy please complete our Contact Form. And request one to be posted to you as soon as they have been published. Or telephone us for free on 0800 644 4160. and once again we will mail this to you as soon as it has been published. Let’s be careful out there and date safely.
Match.com Rape Trial and Dating Safely
The Jason Lawrance rape trial was concluded at Derby Crown Court on Thursday of this week with a guilty verdict and Lawrence being jailed for life, with Judge Gregory Dickinson making a recommendation that Lawrance must serve a minimum of 12.5 years before he could be considered for parole. With the Judge also expressing his hopes that lessons could be learned from the use of such sites and that dating safely become an effective measure. The court was stunned however into silence at one point when victim number 3 took to the witness stand and recounted that when she rang Match.Com to report to them she had been raped that ‘They did not seem to give a damn”.
The Crime and Police Commissioner of the Police Force that brought Lawrance to trial – Derbyshire Police, Alan Charles called Internet Dating ‘The darkest alley of all” after the trial was concluded. Said Mr Charles: ‘Personal safety advice used to incorporate avoiding walking alone down dark alleys at night but the Internet can be the darkest alley of all’. And where dating safely is of the most importance. Mr Charles continued: ‘The popularity of any website where personal information is required does raise the question of security and more needs to be done to keep people aware of the dangers.’
The Judge also asked ‘Is there any supervision of these sites?’ as it was revealed that Match.Com on 4 occasions was asked to take down Lawrance’s profile by the victims and on each occasion they refused, siting ‘lack of evidence’ according to The Daily Telegraph online. But there IS an alternative and here are the steps we take at Searchmate to ensure that our members date in the safest possible environment.
- We aim our membership only at educated professionals, business owners, entrepreneurs and the active retired.
- Every member is personally interviewed using one of the most comprehensive client questionnaires in the dating industry – we ask the tough questions too!
- All new members are ID checked using photographic evidence and verified.
- Our service is completely confidential and there is no internet profile or photographs.
- You work on a one to one with one of our experienced personal matchmakers, who will guide you throughout your membership.
- Your matches are all vetted and recommended by our personal matchmakers, with feedback taken after every date.
Like to know more? Then phone us at our expense on 0800 644 4160 or complete the contact form on the site. We’d love to talk you through our much safer form of meeting people, how dating safely is important and Julie Lazarus, our Senior Membership Adviser would be happy to do that. Ring us today.
In the week where the National Crime Agency have announced that Online Dating crimes have more than doubled between 2013 and 2015 and with the Jason Lawrence rape case trial ongoing at Derby Crown Court, where it is alleged that 5 victims he met on Match.com were raped and 2 others sexually assaulted, we analysed the crime statistics that the NCA made available and it is sad to see that using the larger and nationally or even internationally known brands such as Match.com, Plenty of Fish or Badoo, offers no additional protection at all.
Between 2013 and 2015, according to the National Crime Agency, 828 cases of crimes involving online dating were reported, this included 88 cases of rape, 49 sex attacks, 180 violent crimes, 115 cases of harassment and 43 of blackmail, most of which came from the best known branded sites such as Plenty of Fish which led the way in terms of numbers, with 63 cases reported in total, including 8 rapes and 5 sex attacks. Badoo was in second place and was in involved 17 cases, including 2 rapes, with Sugardaddy.com, Fitlads.net, Outoftownaffairs and Flirtfinder all being involved in rape cases too.
Surely there has to be a better way of way of meeting people than this and we asked Julie Lazarus of Searchmate to comment on the current situation and the NCA’s statistics. Said Julie “I find those statistics awful, they are far, far worse than I expected and I really feel saddened for the victims, who’s only mistake has been to try to find happiness by trying to meet a partner. It does however really vindicate the more cautious approach we take at Searchmate, where all members are interviewed, ID checked and vetted before we would ever accept them as a member, making Searchmate one of safest ways to meet new partners across the UK.”
If you would like to receive advice on dating safely and the services offered by Searchmate, then you can get in touch with Julie Lazarus on 0800 644 4160 or by completing the contact form within the site. The consultation is always free and completely without obligation.
