That person you're chatting to on Tinder? They're probably already in a relationship

Good old Tinder, trusty old Tinder, reliable, faithful, dependable old Tinder: what a great way to meet people and then snog them, or something. It’s a fun game to play while you sit on the toilet: flick left and right, I like you, I don’t like you, I’ll message you, I don’t remember matching you, oh my god I can’t believe you matched with me you must have done it by accident, I love you, why aren’t you answering me it’s been five minutes now please I think we’d be great together oh good I’ve been blocked, I like you, I don’t like you, wipe.

But actually, mate, it’s not that good – it’s actually quite bad, it turns out. It’s bad because the people that you’re talking to might not actually be the people that they say they are. According to a study by Canvas8, a whopping 51% of people on dating sites are already in a relationship. Of course, this relates to both people that are actively looking to cheat on their partner, and also people who have dormant profiles (have got in a relationship and not deactivated their account). Still, it’s quite a large chunk of all the users. More than half.

Add to that the fact that 81% of people lie on their profile and you’ve got a pretty untrustworthy pool of potential suitors. Although you probably lie as well, don’t you, so you can’t really knock them for that. You’re not six foot, that Lamborghini you’re standing in front of isn’t yours and Ice Man Flash Steel isn’t your real name.

You want some more stats to ruin your online dating experience? Sure: 10% are scammers. You know the ones: mega hot babes/studs who inexplicably respond to your terrible opening line and then react positively to everything you type until finally saying:

“I agree! I love to have fun! Do you? Check out my cam here: xcym.btl”

Oh, there’s more: to push you further towards deleting your account, 10% of sex offenders are using dating apps, and 3% are psychopaths.

SO BASICALLY EVERYONE ON THERE IS BAD.

Thankfully, there’s a new service that’ll help your sieve out the wrong-uns and get the low-down on any potential dates before you meet them. Aste was set up by Julie Nashawaty after she found out a bloke she was about to date had robbed a bank two years previously. It’s a service that’ll perform a background check on whoever you’ve just matched with, if you need some peace of mind before heading off to meet them.

She says: “We find out every place your partner is online. We deliver social media profiles, sex offender status, major arrests, and then any other mention of your date online.

“If that means they were in a small news story from 2002 about building a movie theatre in their parents’ home, you get that too.”

It only costs £23.50 for a background check, which is a small price to pay to prevent you from turning up to a restaurant and meeting not your sexy millionaire philanthropist, but an actual poisonous newt, or something. Bargain, I rate.

(Image: iStock)