Doing due diligence
Definition of ‘Due Diligence (DD)’
1. An investigation or audit of a potential investment. Due diligence serves to confirm all material facts in regards to a sale.
2. Generally, due diligence refers to the care a reasonable person should take before entering into an agreement or a transaction with another party.
Do not assume that your dating site has done ANYTHING to verify your correspondent’s identity or anything to check his/her background. Even if the site purports to do background checks, it would not be hard for a devious person to figure out a way around the check. Participating in a site that claims to check backgrounds, or sites that appeal to moral virtues like Christian dating sites may actually make you MORE vulnerable. You may relax your “radar,” assuming that others on the site are vetted or are “like you” and honest. Due diligence is YOUR responsibility.
If they have nothing to hide, then they should hide nothing. Your dates should EXPECT that you are going to check up on them, and you should expect that they are going to check up on you.
BTW, if you DO have something to hide, then you should be figuring out how to handle the matter. What if the secret were discovered? Should you proactively tell before discovery? I cover this extensively in my book “Find a Sweetheart Soon!” Chapter 13.
In the early days of Internet dating and the beginnings of search engines like Google, doing a search on someone’s name was difficult and seemed rude and invasive. No more. You should be Googling, right off the bat, as soon as you have someone’s name. Conversely, you should be expecting that they are going to be doing the same. So it is important that you be aware of what is Out There that might come up connected to you in a Google search.
Don’t know how to do a Google search? Type your name inside quotation marks in the Google search box. Mine would be “Kathryn Lord.” What comes up when I Google my name is mostly me, but also someone at the University of Massachusetts who specializes in dogs. Also on page 2 of the search is a fungal cell biologist – not me.
So, do a regular Google search on your own name, because your date is sure to do so and will want an explanation of anything that does not jibe with what you have told them. My uncle had an odd spelling of his name. It was the same name and spelling of a gay porn star, definitely not my uncle, but good for laughs.
So, this is just the beginning of how to do “due diligence.” Stay tuned for future instructions to help you stay safe.
