Five dating app dilemmas answered by experts

In an online Wild West populated by scammers and hackers, dating apps pose challenges beyond just finding a partner. It's getting harder and harder to tell if your date is who it says it is, and that's before you consider the security and data privacy implications of using the apps on your smartphone.

It's hard to maintain privacy when apps like Hinge, Tinder, and Bumble need to collect data to match you with potential dates. Then there's the data you share with other users - including your sexual orientation, age, and social media information - that could put you at risk if it gets into the wrong hands.

Here's what you need to know about using dating apps safely and privately, while getting the most out of them.

Should you use your real name in your profile?

When creating a dating site profile, you will need to post certain information for potential matches to see. But it's pretty easy to track someone online if you know their first name and occupation, and you might not be comfortable with that.

Fortunately, most dating apps cater to people who want to maintain some level of privacy online. Bumble, for example, allows you to use initials, shortened versions of your name, or nicknames.

To show others that you are authentic and allow you to Weed out some scammers, many apps give you the option to verify your photos via biometrics. Bumble uses artificial intelligence (AI) for verification, which appears as a blue shield on someone's profile.

However, this type of verification only proves that the verification selfie and profile pictures are of the same person – other profile details could be wrong. To take a well-known example, Netflix's "Tinder Swindler", Shimon Hayut, used real photos of himself and allegedly escaped these controls.