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People often do not realize that when location services are turned on, the camera can access their location. Someone else can view the metadata and find out exactly where they are.

Some athletes in New York recently discovered this to their detriment when they posted photos online. These photos were taken in a club and showed them wearing expensive watches.  Some enterprising female criminals noted the geolocation, made friends with the athletes and stole the items later from their hotels and homes.

Catfishing

Many lonely women have been conned by men they have met online, parting with significant amounts of money. A good-looking, respectable man may strike up a friendship online and eventually start requesting money because he must undergo surgery, is trapped in a foreign country, has lost a limb in an accident and so on.

What these women may not realize is that Google has a reverse image search that can help them to find out whether a profile photo is actually a stock photo of a male model. It will also tell them whether a profile picture has been re-used on many dating sites. This can help to expose identity thieves.

The moral of such stories is, don’t ever send money to someone you have only met online!
Don’t use phrases like “I’ve worked hard my whole life and I want to share my success with someone special”.  Scammers are likely to read this as “I’m lonely and I have money to spend.”

Old-school tips

Some old-school safety tips still apply when going on a first date with a person you met online. Take your own transport and meet in a public place. Hotels do not count as a public place. As soon as the door shuts, a date can turn nasty. Never meet at his home or yours and rather pick a place that’s not in your neighborhood.

… and some not so old-school ones!

You really need to keep as much personal info out of your profile as possible. For example, list your city but not your neighborhood.

Tell a friend you’re going on a date. Give the friend a phone number of the person you're meeting and a post-date check-in time. You can even link the friend to the person’s profile as an extra precaution.

You need to be smart when it comes to online dating. You need to remind yourself that you know very little about the person you're meeting. There’s a possibility that they could be lying. Be constantly aware, apply safety tips, and you will lessen the risks of a nasty encounter.