Nowadays most singletons have had a look, if not a go, at internet dating.

The idea is you register on an internet site and create a profile that would-be suitors can view. Those who like the look of you can get in contact and in the meantime, you can be trawling through the profiles in the hope of finding someone that tickles your fancy.

You chat online for a while – days, maybe weeks or months, eventually you meet up and perhaps it’s the start of something great. Simple. Or maybe not…

Having heard the experiences of a number of women who regularly use internet dating sites, it really is true there is a hotch potch of potential partners out there in cyberspace who are just not what they seem. Unsurprisingly, it is commonplace that people tell the odd white lie about their age, financial status, marital situation and vital statistics.

What might seem like a perfect ten on the site profile might actually turn out to be a disappointing four and a half.

I’ve also heard a fair number of horror stories – there was the woman whose date served up a horrific meal consisting of a nearly raw mackerel in tomato sauce and then turned out to have vampiric tendencies when it was time for dessert.

There was another unfortunate hopeful whose potential suitor answered the door in his birthday suit. Perhaps it’s true that you have to kiss a lot of frogs.

But let’s take a balanced view on all this. I do have a very happy friend who met a lovely partner through a local internet dating site in June this year. By August they were holidaying together in Ibiza and I’ve just had news of their engagement. They really do make a great couple.

So, be aware that people are not always what they seem, and there will always be chancers just waiting to take advantage of you. Always be safe and meet new friends in a public place.

I’ve heard good reports of some dating sites which are absolutely free as an added bonus. You never know, love could be round the corner!

Rhian Gibbings

If your search for “the one” has extended to the internet, don’t believe everything you read. A new study that will be published in an upcoming Proceedings of Computer/Human Interaction says that online daters often lie about their height, weight and sometimes their age.

According to researchers Jeffrey Hancock,a Cornell doctoral student, and Nicole Ellison, an assistant professor at Michigan State University, profile information on dating websites is often incorrect.

52.6 percent of men lied about their height compared with 39 percent of women. More women than men lied about their weight. Women underestimated their weight 64.1 percent of the time. The results seem fairly stereotypical. Age was not lied about as often, with only 24.3 percent of men and 13.1 percent of women telling a fib about their ages.

Hancock concluded that these online daters were trying to appear as attractive as possible without appearing deceptive.

In my experience, ask anyone for their height and they will tell you they are slightly taller than you would find them if you actually measured. And those who may be carrying a few more pounds than they admit to probably haven’t looked at the scale in some time and are relating a number close to what it said the last time they weighed themselves. But everyone knows how old they are, so if they lie about that, then you can probably consider them untrustworthy.

Although it is understandable that people may make mistakes or fib slightly to appear more attractive, it still means that the person you correspond with may have a different physical appearance than you expect.

The rule for online dating is to make sure you use a trustworthy, reliable and established service and carefully screen anyone you contact. Before meeting an online date in person, take precautions for your personal safety.

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