From scam guys to cam girls, it’s a wicked world for people looking for love online.
asserted
it → ’ → love
Just look at cyber villain du jour, a lousy liar named Daejon Love who allegedly conned at least 26 victims out of more than $1.3 million.
uncertain
who → look → million
He posed as a romance-starved player for the San Francisco 49ers.
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He → pose → 49ers
But a new online platform called Stud or Dud, which launched last week, is promising less Daejon Love and more actual love, or at least a fighting chance at it.
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which → call → it
Launched by public-records company PeopleFinders, the website lets interested parties do a simple, free background check on their wannabe Romeos — including address history, bankruptcies and other publicly available records.
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parties → launch → history
The site aims to simplify the pre-date sleuthing ritual familiar to most singles by putting all public records in one place, by also adding context to the material like compatibility read outs and color coding information with red and green flags.
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site → aim → flags
It’s your own little black book.
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It → ’ → ?
Of course, you could still simply Google someone, and sift through pools of scattered links that may also turn up some false user generated information, a company rep told The Post.
“Records give you context, not certainty,” PeopleFinders CEO Amber Higgins told The Post.
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Higgins → google → Post
“It’s less ‘trust, then verify,’ and more ‘verify, then trust.’”
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It → ’ → ?
Before a first date, the standard vetting process for a potential romantic partner typically went as follows: send his dating profile to the group chat, where your best friend deploys the finsta for career-level private investigator work.
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friend → go → work
Search Facebook forums like “Are We Dating the Same Guy?” — all in an attempt to verify that your 7:00 pm drinks aren’t the beginning of an elaborate dating scam.
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drinks → search → scam
“Someone got burned by a match who wasn’t who they claimed to be, and there was no easy, trustworthy way to check.
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they → burn → who
Stud or Dud came out of that, taking the public-records expertise we’ve built over two decades and putting it into something built specifically for how people actually date.
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people → come → something
Shockingly, a recent survey found that 1 in 4 Americans reported interacting with a fake profile or AI bot, while 15% reported losing money to an online dating or romance scam.
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% → find → scam
And 21% of men and 10% of women surveyed reported losing money to an online romance scam.
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% → survey → scam
Higgins explains that often, people assume that if someone has an active Instagram or a search result that looks normal, they’re legitimate.
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they → explain → Instagram
But photos, bios and follower counts can all be staged or borrowed from someone else entirely.
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photos → stag → someone
So your besties’ finsta may not cut it anymore.
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finsta → cut → it
“Social platforms were never built to verify identity, employment, or financial history, so someone can look completely real online while hiding a very different story,” Higgins explained.
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Higgins → build → story
She said the polished profile isn’t the only risk — it’s everything that comes after it.
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that → say → it
“Watch for someone who won’t get on a video call, who has inconsistent details about their job or where they live, or who moves the relationship forward unusually fast,” she recommended while noting that any financial urgency is a major red flag.
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urgency → watch → relationship
“If money comes up before you’ve met in person, that’s a moment to pause, not lean in.
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that → come → person
As background checks become less taboo and more of a pre-dating rite of passage, your group chat may have the backup it needs.
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it → become → backup
A young couple enjoys a date night with Italian food at a restaurant.
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couple → enjoy → restaurant
The homepage of Stud or Dud, a dating safety platform powered by the public records search engine PeopleFinders. Stud or Dud
Fake 49ers player Daejon Love is seen in a mugshot following his arrest for fraud.
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Love → power → fraud
The Aporia
