Perils of Online Dating Prompt Safety Efforts

REUTERS -- Mar 21 -- Josie Brown never had a chance against her 6-foot-6-inch killer.  John Gaumer, confessed and led Baltimore County police to Brown's body on February 7, listed his height and other attributes in his quest for dates on MySpace.com.  "There are millions of people we're dealing with here and somehow people think they are all preachers," said Paul Falzone, CEO of Together Dating, a brick-and-mortar company that performs background checks on all members. Falzone says background checks result in 10% of applicants being rejected.  For most of the 40 million people using Internet sites for dating and socializing each month, a disastrous 15 minutes over coffee at Starbucks is the worst they will suffer.  Only a small percentage of "intimate partner violence" -- nearly 700,000 such incidents were reported to the U.S. Dept of Justice in 2001 -- originate from Internet dating, according to Mark Brooks, editor of Online Personals Watch, which monitors the dating industry.  "To think a felon could find a victim, especially for a heinous crime, gives me the heebie-jeebies. I do all I can do to prevent that," said Herb Vest, TRUE.com CEO.  So far, California, Florida, Texas and Michigan have considered (background checks) legislation.  Yahoo! and Match.com, the industry leaders with 6 million and 15 million monthly visitors respectively, continually stress dating safety.  "The Internet has its dark side and they are not doing everything they can to keep sexual predators and gold diggers off these sites. If you don't police yourselves, the government will come in and police you," said Michigan state Sen. Alan Cropsey.  "There are other ways to get to who that person is, rather than have the government ram a business model down your throat," said Abe Smilowitz, CEO of Webdate.  Webdate uses real-time video as a safety measure, allowing prospective dates to chat and get a look at each other via Webcams.  Companies like Safedate and Honestyonline are springing up to run background checks for individuals. According to Dr. John Gray, education is the solution.  "The warning signs often come out right away. Beware of someone who can solve all your problems or who comes on really strong," said Gray.