Mel Greig: Why am I scared of online dating?

I’ve attempted online dating a few times and to be honest I always cancel on the dates . . . by dates I
mean this has happened twice.

There is something off-putting about chatting with someone that you really know nothing about. The conversations can be quite frequent and deep, yet this person on the other end could seriously be anyone and I think that’s what scares me.

Am I scared as in fearful of him being a serial killer and hurting me? No, I’m scared of connecting
online and for the offline encounter to be completely different and given how unrealistic social
media can be it really could have a disastrous ending.

But is the real reason I feel this way because I have been scammed before? I wasn’t catfished, but this high earning Media Salesman ended up ripping me off and turning out to be one of the worst humans that exists.

I’m not scared of dating though and I don’t hold onto that experience, but I can’t seem to follow
through with online dating, it doesn’t feel real to me and sadly people’s intentions aren’t always
pure.

Recently a friend of mine met someone on one of the dating apps and they had an incredible date
and night together, he matched up to his profile and seemed like a great guy . . . he stayed the
night and even made her a cup of coffee in bed the next morning. It was a nice gesture considering they had no sleep, but he had to ‘rush off to work’ and couldn’t hang around and have one with her.

But it turns out that on his way out of her place while she was tucked into bed enjoying her coffee, he grabbed all the cash from her purse.

Since he was the perfect gentleman she didn’t want to accuse him and she just pretended like it
didn’t happen but deep down I think she felt ashamed that she had been fooled and to be honest she
felt violated because she slept with this guy based on his amazing behaviour and how well he
treated her but that wasn’t who he actually was.

Ladies, it’s important to understand that when this happens DON’T FEEL ASHAMED. Don’t ever feel ashamed for being kind and believing in someone, you are only guilty of seeing the good in people and you can’t let an experience like that change you.

Being catfished or ripped off is an awful feeling, I know that way too well, but the next guy might be your prince charming and if you start to see the wrong in people before they’ve even had a chance, well, that first scum bag wins because it will change how you treat people moving forward.

So, how do we stay safe online? How do we possibly trust complete strangers? This might sound
crazy, but I have found that these 2 things help with weeding out the dishonest ones:

1. Get them to take a selfie of themselves holding that day’s newspaper and send it through . . .
   just like proof of life. Most guys find the funny side of this, but it has pissed off a couple of guys.

2. Ask them for their last name and make a joke that you want to creep on their Facebook page
   to make sure they are legit. Two kinds of people say no to this . . . the ones who have a partner and the ones who are lying about where they work.

More and more I’m craving my younger dating years . . . the days of calling the house phone and the
old fashion wooing to win your lady, these days there are far too many options at the touch of your
fingers and we’re forgetting the old school values of dating.

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