CAAGe Lead Counsellor Wendy Gregory takes a look at the balance between their rights to privacy and your rights to stay safe in this article in Cosmopolitan, Is it ok to check up on the new person you're dating?

The answer is, of course, yes.

But, like most things, it’s more nuanced.

This great little article looks summarises the technology and the ethics of searching for someone online.

This article from Kellog Insight is a great summary of the ways to spot an AI image:

- the hands

- things floating

-disappearing items

- text

- perfection!

It’s safe to say, however, that these are being worked on as we read!

Dating sites usually have profile images.

These can be checked out very easily - if a picture can’t be downloaded a screen shot will do.

In due course we will find a way to make this easier to explain and demonstrate, but in the meantime, whilst there are many tools that will charge ypu for their usage, a Google image search is a good place to start.

Is this ethical?

Absolutely, although you must ensure that this doesn’t become stalking behaviour. It’s fine to check things out for safety.

Note that this is simply a basic check and the fact that someone’s picture doesn’t appear on a search is no guarantee of anything other than that Google can’t find it. It may well, however, flush out a catfish.

We know that our own recommended Private Investigator will hate us for putting this picture up.

However, it’s there for a reason.

To be honest if you get to the stage of mistrust where a PI becomes necessary, it’s probably a red flag and time to walk away.

But sometimes we think it’s our own imaginations playing tricks. Or we simply need to understand the truth.

So we’re happy to have found someone we consider to be a great PI with a good track record and strong background.

You’ve got far enough into conversation/relationship to know someone’s first name and sirname.

It’s perfectly resonable, given the amount of stories we hear about dating frauds, to check them out online using the name they’ve given you.

A basic Google search can reveal a lot, but other places to look include Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

The fact that someone’s name and story match what you find online only indicate that just that - that the name and story match. ‘Fine upstanding members of the public’ can have a dark side. Catfishers (see below) may steal someone’s identity to trap you.

But this is a great place to start - you’ll see if the pictures match, if they’re ‘in a relationship’, maybe even if they work where they say if they’re on LinkedIn.

CAAGe looks at what ´’Catfishing’ is as part of its ‘Lexicon of Abuse’ series.

Catfishing is a common tactic of groomers on dating sites, pretending to be someone else in order to trap their targets.

Clares Law gives individuals the right to know whether their current partner or ex has a history of violence or abuse.