(Online) Dating Dangers - Finding out more about the person?

Factual Questions
1

A show here in Canada “W-Five” had a program on what they called cybersharks (online dating suitors who conned or abused partners).

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071102/WFIVE_risky_business/20071102?hub=WFive

I don’t date online, but I know people who do.

My husband, our friends and I met the con man in the article at a local pub where he was working as a chef, and were on a friendly basis for about a month, but we did not get conned ourselves in any way because we neither employed him nor did any of us date him.

Having met a real life con man I was wondering what can people who are using online dating services like this guy’s victims do to find out more on their potential suitor?

Aside from googling people, can bring up little or nothing - or perhaps too much in the case of someone with a common name, what can a person do?

In Canada, as far as I know criminal background checks are legally limited to employers and agencies. Many of the websites out there which claim to do background searches look to me like phishing. Also a con man can use a variation of the spelling of his or her name, and lead you astray.

I know you can search provincial & federal court records online too, but those databases don’t go back very far (some go back on to 2002), and again someone with a common name, fake name, or misspelled name would not be found.

For people who do use dating web sites or even people who meet someone IRL, are there any services which work?

From those of you who date online, and/or are paranoid - what do you do? What can you do, and where do you look?

2

When I was still on the market, I would usually offer a woman my personal email address, which includes my full name, when I felt comfortable but always before meeting for the first time; usually after a few emails have been traded. I am one of two people in the United States with my name, and less than 100 have my last name. Most Google hits will be for me; a lot of them, because my profession puts me in the public eye.

Still, there is something of a double standard when it comes to investigating an Internet suitor. A woman is just being safe when she uses Google to dig up dirt on a man; if a man does the same thing, it’s considered stalking. On more than one occasion, a woman I’m seeing for the first time became upset or even furious when, after they admitted they Googled my name, I confessed to doing the same with their name.

3

Ya know I was pondering the idea years ago of creating an online service for basically just that. That you sign up and they do things like pull a credit report and have you confirm things on there, etc, etc. Get confirmation of identit/employer/income/criminal background check/etc. Copy of photo ID on file, etc.

The allow users of personal ads to post a “secure date” link where people can check.

It would reply things like:
been at current address for X months/years (without disclosing the address)
owns home (once again not disclosing address)
owns car (without disclosing type)
has been with current employer X months/years (without disclosing the employer)
income range confirmed $X-$XXX
has no felony convictions
has no misdemeanor convictions
has 1 minor traffic infraction on record
confirmed that he has a valid bank account

His picture ID photo

Kind of a generic we know who he/she is and if he robs you, rapes you, scams you, etc the service happily hands over the info to law enforcement for locating him.

4

Would you run a security check on the fellow you met at the banana bench in the produce section?

Meeting online is just another way of doing what everyone’s always done, meet new people.