Men overshare on online dating sites upping their risk of being scammed

A worrying number of online dating users are‚ through their profiles‚ placing sensitive information about themselves into the public domain‚ which could potentially expose them to malicious links that infect their device or scammers trying to extort information from them.

This is according to global cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab. Its latest research report‚ “Dangerous Liaisons: is everyone doing it online?”‚ was based on a survey in August 2017 which assessed the responses of 6‚458 online dating users from 30 countries - including 500 people in South Africa.

"People share information with others too easily when they are dating online‚ with a quarter (25%) admitting they share their full name publicly on their dating profile. One-in-ten have shared their home address‚ and the same number have shared naked photos of themselves this way‚ exposing them to risk‚" the report states.

"All of this information‚ in the wrong hands‚ can be used to track online dating users and their families online and offline‚ to crack their accounts by guessing passwords‚ for blackmail‚ and more.

"... Giving out this information can mean that a relationship struck up online can enter the real world very quickly – with people going from being strangers‚ to being able to access an online dater’s home address or phone line within a matter of minutes. That‚ of course‚ is not always a safe or a good thing."

Men are ready to share personal information about themselves much faster than women are. Female users are likely to share information after several months (25% vs 16%)‚ while men are significantly more likely to hand over their personal details after just minutes or hours (16% vs 9%).

Overall‚ 55% of people that date online have experienced some form of threat or problem – ranging from IT security incidents to meeting up with people that didn’t turn out to be who they claimed‚ or being rejected by potential matches.

The data suggests that men put themselves at risk more than women. Twice as many male online daters said their device has been infected with malware‚ spyware or ransomware and 13% of men had been sent phishing emails that claimed to be from an online dating site‚ compared to just 7% of women.

In contrast‚ 15% of women said they had been involved in a conversation that made them feel uncomfortable compared to just 10% of men.

The research also found that those searching for their soulmate on online dating platforms – such as the likes of Tinder‚ Bumble‚ OK Cupid‚ Badoo and more – are in the minority‚ with just 10% locally using online dating to actually find a marriage partner. That’s compared to half (50%) of online dating users doing it for fun‚ and 19% simply looking for sex.

The online dating world is also rife with false information: Over half (62%) of people locally admitted to lying while dating online – faking information to make themselves look better than they do in real-life‚ or even to try and catch their partners cheating.

Interestingly‚ those who ‘fake it’ online are more likely to have their security compromised – 14% of those that share false information have had their device infected with malware‚ spyware or ransomware via an online dating platform‚ compared to 11% of those that don’t share false information‚ the report said.

Andrei Mochola‚ Head of Consumer Business at Kaspersky Lab‚ said: "Like every popular online trend‚ unfortunately there are also people that want to use online dating for malicious purposes. Far from advising users to avoid online dating altogether‚ we simply urge them to consider their safety at every step of the way.

A heightened awareness‚ accompanied with an adaptive security solution‚ that can respond to different situations and work to protect every device used for dating from online threats‚ is the best way to start."

People who date online are most likely to be:

• 33.8 years old on average
• Working full-time (63%)
• Slightly more likely to be male than female (39% of men date online vs 25% of women)
• They are most likely to work as medium-level managers (20%) or be highly qualified specialists such as scientific workers‚ teachers and engineers (19%).
• 31% of people who are married or living with a partner are using online dating.
• Online daters are most likely to visit dating apps and services from Windows PCs and Android smartphones than any other type of device. And‚
• 51% of online daters admit to using a device that they use for work to carry out their online dating activities.