A two-minute check-in before you meet up. Five honest questions, one straight read.
Take the check-inAnswer a few honest questions about how it's gone so far.
We tally it up: dream, yellow flag, or disaster.
Walk in with a plan, not just a guess.
Answer all five questions first.
Online dating puts you in a room with a stranger based on a few photos and a couple of messages. Most of the time, that's fine. Sometimes it isn't, and the warning signs were there the whole time, just easy to talk yourself out of. This is a five-minute gut check, not a guarantee, and definitely not a replacement for trusting yourself.
Save one of their photos and reverse image search it on Google Images or TinEye — a match on a modeling site or under a different name is a major red flag.
Ask for a quick video call before meeting in person. It's the single thing catfish and scammers avoid most.
Cross-check small details — job, city, age — against what's on their social profiles. Vague or shifting answers are worth noticing.
Watch for classic AI-photo tells: oddly smooth skin, strange hands or ears, or backgrounds that don't quite make sense.
Public-record lookups through a vetted partner, for when you want more than a gut check.
Run a background check