Everything we do in life carries with it an element of risk. We can never remove all risks from our life but we can use common sense precautions and our instincts to avoid most pitfalls. Online dating carries some risks but there is plenty you can do to ensure your heart and your wallet are protected while using dating sites and when meeting anyone for dates.

The first thing you can do to protect yourself when using an online dating site is to review your profile. How much information have you freely given away while describing yourself? The key is to be honest about your likes and dislikes, to reveal enough about yourself to make the profile interesting and attractive, but at the same time protect your true identity. For example, don't be tempted to disguise a phone number or email address in the profile text areas in an attempt to circumvent the subscription service on the site. Not only will your profile be suspended but you may give away details that could attract unwanted attention from unsavoury characters or spammers.

If your chosen dating site is run with a degree of integrity and if membership includes things like SMS messaging then the administrators of the site should have put safeguards in place so that you can display a profile but your email address, phone number, date of birth, and post or zip code are kept secret. This is private information that you should only reveal when you choose to do so. It will still be possible for the site administrators to contact you via email and to send you text messages, but they should have put security measures in place to prevent unauthorised use of this information.

Getting to know someone on an online dating site can be fun and exciting. If you're the romantic type you might build up all kinds of mental imagery about the person you're receiving message from, but before you rush off to plan your new life together take a pause along each stage of the journey to consider your instincts. The human instinct is a powerful tool and one we should learn to trust. Dating can be a bit of a balancing act. On the one hand there is the urge to be open with someone you're attracted to, but at the same time your instinct advises you to keep something back. Trust that inner voice that gently suggests you take a slower pace. Your heart may thank you for it one day.

Another unfortunate aspect of online dating sites is the con artist. A good con artist is not only believable but very convincing. One of the favourite frauds is where a beautiful woman in a foreign country strikes up an online relationship with a man and starts to profess undying love for him and deep attraction for him. The man is flattered and can't believe his luck. He starts to imagine all kinds of wishes and dreams being fulfilled. The woman plays on this and tells him that she'll soon be in his arms, but first she needs a few hundred dollars for the air fare if she's to travel to him. Excited by the women's passionate promises the man gladly obliges by sending over the cash, and then waits in vain for his heart's desire to turn up at the airport!

A variation on the con explained above is where a woman describes her sadness and despair due to her own illness or that of a close member of her family. The man takes pity on her and sends her money for treatment or other medical bills. Once again she vanishes with the cash.

It's often the men that are duped in this way, but women should not be smugly complacent. Men can be equally cunning and deceptive. They can lure a woman abroad with promises of a luxurious lifestyle and on arrival she may find that only are the surroundings less than first class but that she will incur additional expense just to complete the visit and will have to fund her own travel back home when she discovers that her handsome, romantic prince falls short in all respects!

Having put you off online dating forever, please be assured that these things happen very rarely. I describe them here for you in order to point them out and steer you away from the pitfalls. You wouldn't cross the road without checking the traffic coming in both directions, and you wouldn't drive at 100mph in the fog. Take sensible precautions with online dating, trust your instincts, and pause for thought before taking any big steps and you'll be able to enjoy many happy days (and nights) with someone who adores you and whom you can trust.

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