The benefits of online dating are numerous. Access to a number of potential companions who seemingly fit your every requirement, is just a click away. However, the growth of online dating services has spawned criminal activity as well. There are some common sense precautions that one has to take while dating online.

It is imperative not to reveal personal information in your dating profile, personal advertisements, or private e-mails. Though it is deemed safe enough to give your real name, specifics about where you live should be limited to a country or city, at best. Information can be used cruelly without your consent.

It is prudent not to use communication tools beyond what is provided by the dating service. Today, there are facilities like private e-mail, chat, and instant messaging. You should not invite people to e-mail you at your real address until you know them well enough. Your judgment is crucial here.

While e-mailing singles in private, try using an anonymous e-mail account, which you can get at any number of free sites (Hotmail, Yahoo etc.). It is wise to take time and move at your own pace.

Also, be wary about your signatures. There is the trend to use multiple signature lines for our personal and business correspondence. You will, obviously, want to leave valuable information out when initially contacting singles. The best alternative would be to open a new and free e-mail account, which should be kept exclusively for communication with singles you happen to meet online.

All said and done, you should know that the one in control here is you. Have the resolve not to give away any private information, under any sort of pressure. Those not respecting your privacy are not worth chatting with anyway.