DateableHow to make your profile a harder target for scammers
Leave out your phone number, address, surname, workplace and anything about money troubles. A profile that gives nothing away stops scammers before they start.
A profile that gives scammers nothing to work with is a profile they skip. Leave out your phone number, your social media handles, your surname, your workplace and any line about debts or needing help with rent. What you do not write, a scammer cannot steal or use to track you down. This is not paranoia: it is the difference between a message from someone real and one from someone working through a list.
Why your profile is a target
Scammers hunt on dating platforms because profiles contain all the information they need in one place. They read what you have written, look at your photos and work out how to approach you. A profile that says you are student with money troubles, or recently separated and trying to rebuild, or looking for emotional support, is an invitation to a certain kind of criminal. They see someone who might welcome attention and think attention paired with offers of help is irresistible.
WA ScamNet reports that scammers pose as prospective sugar parents and offer to pay your bills or debts. But first they ask for a small payment as proof of loyalty or to cover fees, then they disappear. Or they deposit a large sum, claim it was an error, and ask you to return it by buying gift cards and sending the codes. The deposit came from a stolen account, so it vanishes and you are left in debt. 1
The information that puts you at risk
Four pieces of information are gold to a scammer: your phone number, your home address, your surname and your workplace. If a scammer has all four, they can find you outside the app. They can call you, email you, turn up. They can contact your employer or use your address to pose as you to your bank. 1 None of these details need to be in your profile.
- Phone number: give it only when you decide to move to calls, not before
- Home address: stays private until you have met and trust them
- Surname: give your first name and nothing else
- Workplace: if you name an industry, do not name a business or location
- Social media handles: they link to your full life online
Your social media handles matter too. A handle that appears on your profile and links to Instagram or TikTok where your surname, workplace, university or hometown lives in your bio is a map that leads straight to your real life. A scammer uses it to build a false sense of knowing you, to say "I saw your post about your dog" or "I know you study at X university", and suddenly the stranger feels familiar.
Keep your surname, home address and workplace to yourself until you trust the person. 2 That means real trust, not three good conversations. Real trust is video chat that matches the photos, a real date in person, and time to watch how they behave.
Anything about money troubles is a neon sign
Do not write "struggling with rent", "paying off a debt", "help with university fees" or anything that signals you need money. Do not write "going through a rough patch" or "just getting back on my feet". Scammers search profiles for those phrases. They know a person who says "I need help" is already halfway to "OK, I believe you can help me".
If generosity is part of what you are looking for in an arrangement, say it the way Dateable members do: mention experiences you want, time you value, or support that means something to you. Leave out the panic. Scammers prey on panic. Real generous members notice what you are interested in and find a way to give you that, not desperation.
What you can say instead
I am looking for someone I trust who values my time and enjoys good company. I do not send money before I meet someone in person, and I do not share financial details until I know who you are.
That one sentence does the work. It is clear about a boundary, it names the thing you will not do, and it does not invite argument. You are not asking. You are telling. If they push back on that boundary in the first message, you have learned something useful: they are not your person.
Stay on the platform until you decide to move
Pressure to message on WhatsApp, WeChat, Telegram or email instead of on the platform is a warning. Real members do not rush you off the platform where you have safety tools and where your account is verified. Scammers do. They want to move you somewhere they control the conversation and where there is no trail.
Message on the platform until you have video chatted, until the photos match the person, and until you have planned to meet. That is not paranoia. That is the time it takes to know someone is real.
Your photos are part of the story
Choose your photos carefully. A profile with twelve stunning photos of a face is a profile that invites reverse-image searches. Scammers use AI or google images to find photos already posted by someone else, then build a fake profile around them. If your photos are generic beauty-shoot images or famous-person lookalikes, you are a target. If your photos are clearly yours because they have backgrounds, because they are unflattering in some way, because they show you doing something specific, they are harder to steal.
Protect the life that comes after dating
Write your profile properly and protect your privacy. Those two pieces mean you can use Dateable without carrying scammer anxiety into the rest of your life. A profile that does not leak your address, your surname, your workplace or your desperation is a profile that stops scammers at the door. They move on to the next account, and you get to focus on the real messages from real people who are here to meet you.
One thing that never changes: if someone offers to solve your money problems before you have met, and asks for anything in return, stop replying and report the profile.
Sources
- WA ScamNet (Government of Western Australia, Consumer Protection) (2026). Sugar baby scam.
- New Zealand Police (2026). Safety advice.
