Hey, we all have a “crazy ex” story. The guy that responded to your breakup by laying in front of your car every morning before work. The girl who was secretly storing clippings of your hair in a special “memory box” under the bed. But imagine if there was some way to spot the serious crazies before you’ve even met?
Here’s a true story that might just keep you up at night.
Annalisa Merelli is an Italian journalist who met the love of her life in New York. He was with someone else at the time, but it had fallen apart, he said. This time, it was the real deal.
Annalisa was infatuated. She followed him to India, where he worked as a photographer. He proposed. Midway through planning their wedding, he went back to the US on assignment.
She never saw him again.
Riol Dankó was travelling through the US when she met the love of her life, a photographer who’d been living in India. He hadn’t yet broken up with his girlfriend, he said, but it had fallen apart. This time, it was the real thing.
Several years later, this amazing man left Riol and their young son to go to a weekend wedding in Portugal. Days later, he called to say he’d met the love of his life. This time, it was the real thing.
Once they’d met each other, it didn’t take long for Annalise and Riol to realize they were part of a long line of women whose lives were wrecked by this guy. And now their stories are out there on the Internet, it wouldn’t take much for the next girl in the chain to figure out what she was getting into.
… If she was really looking.
But who does that? Who does proper digging on the amazing person they’ve just met?
The answer is: someone smart.
Okay, you can’t be certain that the Victoria’s Secret model who’s unaccountably interested in your World of Warcraft obsession won’t turn out to be a scammer. But there are simple ways to ensure you’re not walking into disaster with someone who’s on record doing this before.
Got a hot date lined up tonight?
You’ve probably already Googled or Facebooked them out of curiosity. But you don’t have to stop there.
Using an online background check tool, you can find out in seconds whether the person you’re thinking of hooking up with has a dark past. A criminal record. A string of bankruptcies. You name it.
The rise of internet dating means that, oftentimes, the person across the table is a total stranger. While that can be thrilling (and can make for one hell of an anecdote), there’s no need to let it become a threat. Get your detective hat on before your first date, and you might just save yourself a ton of heartache.
Top Sites for Background Checks:
- Intellius: A comprehensive people searching and reverse lookup tool. You can find out everything from someone’s address and financial history to who’s been trying to call you, for as little as $29.95 a month.
- BeenVerified: A background search tool that searches public data to find out personal information such as current and former address, court records and convictions, for as little as $22.86 a month.
- Instant Checkmate: A public records database that enables instant criminal background checks, including known aliases, arrests and charges. Plans start at $18.43/month or pay just $1 for a 5-day trial.