Safety Guidelines

Nobody you have met online should ever need your money. Not for a flight, not for a hospital bill, not for customs, not for a visa, not as a loan, not once.

Romance fraud is the most common serious harm in online dating, and almost all of it fails against this single rule. You do not have to judge whether a story is true. You do not have to spot an inconsistency. You only have to apply the rule without exception.

This also covers the requests that do not look like money:

• Gift card codes or top-up vouchers.
• Cryptocurrency of any kind.
• Receiving a payment and forwarding it on, or letting a package be posted to your address — this can make you part of a crime.
• Investment or business “opportunities”, however well explained.
• Your bank details, card numbers or copies of your ID.

If someone asks, report them. A genuine partner will understand this rule. Someone running a script will get frustrated by it — which tells you what you need to know.

Getting to know someone is a gradual exchange. Anyone rushing that exchange is telling you something.

• Keep conversations on the app until you have real reason to trust someone. Off-platform messaging has no reporting and no record.
• Hold back your home address, workplace, daily routine, and your children’s names and schools.
• Be careful with photos that reveal where you live or work — landmarks, street signs, uniforms, your car.
• Never share passwords, one-time codes, bank details or copies of identity documents. No legitimate person needs them.
• Think carefully before sending intimate images. Once sent, they are out of your control. Anyone who pressures you for them has already shown you who they are.

• They will not video call. There is always a reason, and the reason always holds. Treat that as an answer.
• It moves very fast. Declarations of love within days, talk of marriage before a real conversation.
• They push you off the platform immediately.
• A crisis appears. Especially one only money can solve.
• The story shifts. Details change when revisited a fortnight later.
• They isolate you. Discouraging you from telling friends or family about them.
• Pressure, guilt or anger when you say no to anything.

A single sign is not proof. A cluster of them is enough to walk away, and you never need more justification than your own discomfort.

This is the highest-value check available to you, and it is free. Suggest it early and treat a persistent refusal as information rather than an obstacle.

• Ask them to do something spontaneous on camera — wave, move the camera, say a phrase you choose. Pre-recorded footage cannot.
• Check that the person matches their photos, and that the surroundings fit the life they describe.
• Be aware of your own background: keep identifying details out of frame.

Cross-border dating is normal here, and it deserves its own care — because the explanations that should be suspicious are sometimes genuinely ordinary.

• Do not relax the money rule because the distance makes a request sound plausible. Distance is a reason for patience, never a reason to send money.
• Never pay for someone’s travel, visa or documents. Legitimate visa processes do not involve a stranger’s bank transfer.
• If you travel to meet someone, keep control of your own passport, money, phone and return ticket at all times. Book your own accommodation, separately.
• Tell someone you trust your full itinerary, and arrange regular check-ins with them.
• Check your government’s travel advice for the country you are visiting, and know where your nearest embassy is.

• Meet in a busy public place, in daylight, the first few times.
• Tell a friend or family member where you are going, who with, and when you expect to be back. Share your live location.
• Arrange your own transport there and back. Do not be dependent on someone you have just met to get home.
• Keep your phone charged, and keep your drink and belongings with you at all times.
• Do not go to a private home, hotel room or isolated place on a first meeting.
• If you feel uncomfortable at any point, leave. You do not owe anyone an explanation, a polite exit or the rest of the evening.

1. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services. Nothing else comes first.
2. Block the person, and report them in the app.
3. If money has moved, contact your bank straight away — speed affects whether anything can be recovered — and report it to your national fraud or police service.
4. If you cannot reach the app, email safety@dateafricadiamond.com with as much detail as you can.
5. Tell someone you trust. Isolation is part of how this works, and it is the part you can end today.

Being targeted by a professional is not a failure of judgement, and shame is exactly what the person doing it relies on. Report it anyway.

We can act on reports, remove accounts, and give you tools to protect yourself. We cannot vouch for anyone’s character, we cannot see into a private conversation the way a friend can, and we cannot keep you safe when you meet someone in person. That part is yours, and these guidelines exist to make it easier. Read our approach to safety for more.