It's Pretty Safe...Right?

When it comes to dating over the Internet, it seems that the smart choice would be to stick with the well known e-dating sites, such as the Yahoo Personals, or Perfectmatch.com. Most of these sites screen for your criminal history before they allow you to join or sign up. That may not be the case with other uncommon or unfamiliar e-dating sites. And so, if you want to explore the "miracles" of e-dating, your obvious choice should be one of the sites you might see advertised on T.V., like the often publicized Match.com.

Well, perhaps I can inform you that you will be more safe using one of these sites, but I certainly can't say the same for Joseph A. Silva's "match".

Joseph A. Silva met the woman (whose name was disclosed by police) over Match.com, a commonly used and seemingly safe Internet dating site. He traveled from East Providence to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to meet the young woman sometime in August of 2006. Only, what was meant to be a pleasant interaction between two ordinary people captivated through cyberspace ended up a nightmarish night. The woman report being raped by Silva only a couple days later.

"Police then spent months obtaining evidence in the case, including using legal means to obtain member information and e-mails from the dating site match.com, which has privacy policies protecting its members" (http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/11/30/internet_date_led_to_rape_nh_police_say/).

Hard police work eventually led to Silva's arrest about four months after the crime was reported. Police believe that this may not be the first time Silva's victimized someone.

Portsmouth Police Captain Janet Champlin said that the "rape allegation is the latest in a proliferating number of Internet cases that range from child predators to fraud to sex crimes, with victims and perpetrators of all ages" (http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/11/30/internet_date_led_to_rape_nh_police_say/).

So, it is good advice to still be suspicious of whomever you might find using Internet dating, on whatever site. There is no sure-fire way to know everything about a person by meeting them online. However, it is easy to feel real emotions for someone you meet online, enticing enough to make you want to meet them in person. Be careful of where your emotions might bring you, you might not want to go there. You might misjudge somebody, and it could end tragic.

Tim Strampfer