7 Public Online Databases & Techniques to Make Sure Your Blind Date Isn’t A Creep

Meeting someone for the first time is nerve wracking enough. One way to make it a little easier on yourself is to conduct your own background check before you even meet. Is this judgmental? Maybe, but in this day and age, you’re entitled to get a few pointers on who this person is and where they come from before committing to a date. Remember should you find things out about a person and still choose to go on a date with him or her, refrain from bringing up that you were a detective in a former life. This may just flip the tables and make you look like the weird one.

  1. Google Hey, it’s basic, but it works and it’s free. There’s no doubt that your first public database for finding info on your blind date is Google. Everyone is Googl-ing people they know (or those they don’t know), so feel free to Google your companion’s name and go to town finding their Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Remember that some names are common, so just because you find a person’s profile doesn’t exactly mean it’s the person you’re looking for. Be careful when using Google because you may end finding more than you planned, especially when it comes to tags on Facebook.
  2. ZabaSearch This public database allows you to search people by name and phone number. If you start chatting with someone online and that conversation moves to the phone, ZabaSearch will come in handy to see who the person on the other end of the line truly is. It will also give you insight on whether this person uses a phone connected to their parents or worse, their spouse. The bulk of the info on this site is free, but verifying email addresses does require a small fee.
  3. Switchboard If you have a person’s first and last name, you can use Switchboard to find their phone number. After having their phone number, you can go to other public databases that show information based on a phone number. In some cases, you can find a person’s address, as well as the residential history of that person based on a phone number. This may be beneficial when getting to know a blind date to make sure the history they’re telling you adds up with the facts.
  4. ZoomInfo ZoomInfo is a paid service, but it does the bulk of the work for you. Unlike using Google, which can sometimes bring back a lot of information you don’t need or information that’s irrelevant, ZoomInfo brings in people-related data only. This is helpful for those who are cramped for time or aren’t pros when it comes to search engines.
  5. LinkedIn Most professionals use LinkedIn to have some control over their online persona. In a world where many people can share the same name, this means you don’t want a potential employer to mix you up with another person downing a 40 on pictures posted on Facebook. To gain control of their online image, many professionals create a LinkedIn profile, stating their education and employment history. If you’ve been chatting with someone for awhile and they’re presenting themself as a high-powered professional with an impressive academic career, this should be your first stop to see if it’s true. While information on LinkedIn isn’t necessarily official, those who are on it have typically done so to network for work, not snag a date.
  6. Yahoo! People Search We love this public data base because it allows for email searches too. Depending on how you meet your blind date, searching his or her email address may come in handy. If you find out the person has opened the email account under a different name, it could be a sign this person is attached and probably not worth your time. You can also search people by name, address or phone number, should you have any of that information.
  7. Family Watch Dog A simple search of a name tells you if your potential date is a registered sex offender. Because of parole officers, the vast majority of sex offenders must register their names. As long as they are a registered sex offender in your state and have not taken on a new name or persona (in which case, you have bigger fish to fry), the person’s name and address will pull up what he or she was convicted of and how much time they served.

No matter how or where you meet your blind date, never assume anything. Just because you’re being introduce by a co-worker or on a Christian dating site doesn’t guarantee the person is an upstanding citizen. Keep an open mind when going on this hunt. After all, you don’t want to jump to any conclusions about a person, but you also want to protect yourself. If the idea of dating someone with a misdemeanor from parking tickets makes your stomach flip, you may be better off meeting someone the old-fashioned way (and even then, you can’t be sure he or she is of impeccable moral fiber).