Best Background Check Sites for Dating: Stay Safe and a Step Ahead

A background check site is an online service that provides information about individuals’ backgrounds, typically including their criminal history, employment history, credit history, education, and other public records. These services provide access to comprehensive information about a person to verify their identity, assess their trustworthiness, and make informed decisions. And this is a must when you use online dating sites.

We’ve all heard of cases like the Tinder Swindler, and in fact, in 2022 alone, nearly 70,000 people reported a romance scam, and reported losses reached a stunning $1.3 billion, according to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network (Sentinel).

We will not discourage you from dating online, but we want to underline the need for safety precautions. Discover the best background check site for dating as you connect with potential partners online. You’ll find out how to do a background check on someone you are dating by their name, phone number, email, or username.

What is a Background Check and Why It Is Important

A background check is a comprehensive investigation into someone’s personal history. It reveals crucial information about their past that can help you make an informed decision before dating a potential partner.

Here are some of the reasons why it’s essential to conduct a background check on your date.

• Background Check Reveals a Criminal History
  A background check helps you know whether a person has a criminal history, particularly domestic abuse, sexual abuse, or violent crimes. Many background check sites uncover past arrests or convictions by checking millions of public records.
• Uncover Their True Identity with Background Check
  40% of catfishing cases happen on dating sites. Wouldn’t it be better to confirm the person’s identity before going on a date? A background check will look into public records and reveal personal details that verify a person’s identity.
• Background Check Reveals Restraining Orders
  If a person has been ordered to stay from another person, you will see it in their criminal records. Knowing this information can be crucial before meeting an online date in person.
• Identity Check Gives You Peace of Mind
  Background check services will confirm information, including a person’s education, job history, sexual offenses, and financial status. You’ll feel more secure knowing you’ve done your due diligence before meeting a potential partner.

Tinder now runs online background checks. The report can reveal if the person has a history of convictions or violent crimes, and whether they are in the sex offender registry records. You can report a match to Tinder if you find their report includes any of these results.

Table of Best Background Check Sites

The comparison of main information of the different background check sites is in the table below.

We took some resources from the top reviews of the best, and almost all of them were awful. So trust only verified sources of information or blogs of specialized services related to telecommunications. For example, like our HeyLocate blog.

How to Do a Background Check on Someone You Are Dating

Conducting a background check involves covering several bases to determine the validity of an online identity. Start with basic Google search, then Google image search, social media lookup and search through public records.

Google Search Engine

The first method is by doing a Google search. You can search for people by entering their name with double quotation marks and details that you know about them, like location or occupation. Once you find them, search for any red flags or inconsistencies in their online presence.

Do a Google Image Search

A reverse image search can help you narrow your options, making finding a person online faster. Or you’ll find out that they used a stock photo for their profile.

Social Media Search

You can also manually search each site using their username, name, phone number or email on Instagram, Facebook, or other social media sites for authenticity and consistency.

Search Public Records

Check public records in your country online or government websites for criminal records or court cases.

Once you’ve covered the basics, consider using reliable online background check tools for a thorough investigation. However, you can use them from the beginning, so you don’t have to bother with manual searches.

Best Sites For Dating Background Check

The best background check sites for dating are TruthFinder, Intelius, Spokeo, Instant Checkmate, Beenverified, PeopleLooker, PeopleFinders. Let’s see which is better and what for.

TruthFinder – Best for Dark Web Search

TruthFinder looks for information beyond Google by scouring the dark web. It offers background searches, social media searches, and public record searches. You can use this service to get additional information like personal data and criminal records of an individual quickly.

Types of Searches It Provides:

• people search;
• dark web searches;
• phone lookups;
• address lookups.

Price:

• $4.99/mo – reverse phone lookup;
• $28.05/mo – people search;
• $29.73/mo – reverse email lookup.

User Experience:

I used the reverse phone lookup tool to do a dating background check. TruthFinder found the exact person I was looking for, confirming their identity. In addition, it showed me their details, social media accounts, residential addresses, criminal and traffic records, and businesses.

Thanks to TruthFinder, I was no longer hesitant to meet a new person because it helped alleviate some of my fears. The platform’s dark web search costs an additional $2.99/mo, but it promised to provide social media feeds and sex offender registries.

Based on my experience, TruthFinder is a legitimate and comprehensive service for detailed background checks for dating.

Try TruthFinder

Intelius – Best for Social Media Account Searches

Intelius is a popular background check service that offers various lookup tools, including reverse phone lookup, people search, and reverse address searches. It has 32K+ followers on Facebook and has an A+ rating on Better Business Bureau.

Types of Searches It Provides:

• people search;
• phone lookup;
• address search.

Price:

• $21.13/mo – people search;
• $34.95/mo – Reverse phone lookup + people search;
• $34.95/mo – Address lookup + people search.

User Experience:

I used the people search option for an online dating background check. Intelius produced various results, including personal information, contact details, location history, criminal and traffic records, and sex offenders near the individual’s location.

Intelius includes links to their social media profiles. I could access their LinkedIn, Facebook, and MySpace straight from the Intelius platform. It also showed me their business profiles, licenses, finances, and assets.

Try Intelius

Spokeo – Best for People Search

Spokeo is the go-to service for background checks on someone. It can gather information about individuals, such as their relatives, criminal history, and social media profiles.

Spokeo has got your back whether you’re reconnecting with old friends, verifying someone’s identity, or simply curious about someone new when using online dating services.

Types of Searches It Provides:

• people search;
• phone lookup;
• email search;
• address search.

Price:

• $19.95/mo;
• $44.85 – three-month membership;
• $69.95/mo – professional.

User Experience:

I entered the person’s name and location using Spokeo’s people search. To my surprise, Spokeo instantly gave me a list of possible people I sought. I clicked on the most probable result, and Spokeo matched it with the person.

Spokeo provided me with current contact details, social media profiles, and a detailed background check. I got information about their education history, criminal records, and links to connected blogs and websites.

Try Spokeo

Instant Checkmate – Best for Matching Online Profiles

Instant Checkmate can look up publicly available data on social media sites when you’re looking to find information about a potential online date. It can match dating profiles from various online dating apps and provide you with the person’s address, age, criminal history, and social media profiles to discover what they are hiding.

Types of Searches It Provides:

• people search;
• phone lookup;
• address lookup;
• email search;
• criminal records search.

Price:

• $1.00 – 5-day trial;
• $34.78/mo.

User Experience:

I used Instant Checkmate people search and entered the person’s name, age, and city. I then sifted through the results to find the person I wanted.

Instant Checkmate gave me access to a detailed report. The results included their full name, age, aliases, social media profiles, and criminal history. In addition, it displayed their current and previous addresses, contact information, and even a list of known associates.

I liked that Instant Checkmate matched results from various dating sites, including dating.com, match.com, Tinder, and datehookup.com. After experimenting with Instant Checkmate, I found it helpful for getting reports about someone’s dating profiles on a dating site. However, some of the information is outdated.

Try InstantCheckmate

BeenVerified – Best for Simple Reports

BeenVerified is an invaluable background check service that empowers you to dig deeper into the backgrounds of people you meet online. Whether you’re concerned about your safety or want to ensure you’re connecting with genuine individuals, you can depend on BeenVerified. The site is immensely popular, having garnered 52K followers on Facebook.

Types of Searches it Provides:

• people search;
• phone lookup;
• email lookup;
• address lookup;
• vehicle search.

Price:

• $26.89/mo;
• $52.44 – 3-month membership.

User Experience:

I used BeenVerified’s people search feature to learn more about someone I had connected with on a dating app. The service asked me to verify the type of information I was looking for. After which, BeenVerified gave me their full contact info, social media profiles, vehicle ownership, properties, relatives, and other personal details.

Based on my experience, BeenVerified has simple reports to sift through. I could also search by phone number and obtain unlimited reports from a single monthly subscription. However, since BeenVerified abides by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, I could not use the report beyond verifying my date, such as for screening for employment.

I did not like that BeenVerified does not always update its reports, which means the information I got may not be 100% accurate. Some data did not belong to the right person, so I had to take its results with a pinch of salt.

Try BeenVerified

PeopleLooker – Best for Avoiding Romance Scams

PeopleLooker is one of the best dating background check services. It collects millions of public information and makes it available for anyone looking to do a background check or seeking information from federal, state, and local governments, as well as social networking websites such as X, Facebook, and Instagram.

Types of Searches It Provides:

• people search;
• phone lookup;
• email search;
• address search.

Price:

• $17-day trial;
• $22.86/mo;
• $18.28/mo on paid quarterly.

User Experience:

PeopleLooker offered various search tools, but I used the phone search feature. Once I hit enter, PeopleLooker provided me with dozens of reports. It showed me their other mobile numbers, full names, available pictures, the person’s criminal history, social media accounts, location history, and associates.

PeopleLooker displayed identifying information that helped me confirm the individual’s identity. Additionally, it has user comments that gave me more information not provided in the results list. Hence, I could tell if a person is a romance scammer or true to their identity.

PeopleLooker allowed me to prevent catfishing by providing me with an accurate background check report. Nevertheless, downloading PDFs on its mobile app was met with errors, and I could not download a report from it.

Try PeopleLooker

PeopleFinders – Best for One-Time Checks

PeopleFinders is a reliable background check for dating. It can search individual’s data by name from public records in the US. PeopleFinders has an A+ rating from BBB. You can use this service to find out more about your date to make sure they are who they say they are.

Types of Searches It Provides:

• name search;
• reverse phone lookup;
• reverse address lookup.

Price:

• $24.95/mo;
• $1.95 – one-time name search;
• $3.95 – one time reverse phone lookup;
• $39.99 – one-time criminal record check.

User Experience:

PeopleFinders allowed me to check out various information for an individual. I used the reverse phone search, and PeopleFinders compiled a report with the person’s name, location, company name, age, and phone numbers associated with his email.

PeopleFinders report included details about the person’s criminal records, data on sexual offenders, social media profiles, available photos, and court and tax records. As a result of using this service, I matched the online profile of my date to the information I got and confirmed they were who they said.

I liked that the search was simple and fast, and I could do a one-time check without paying a monthly subscription. Still, PeopleFinders reports aren’t as organized as other background search engines like TruthFinder. It also did not show the work history for any of the searches I did.

Try PeopleFinders

Conclusion

In the world of online dating, safety should always be a priority. Background checks provide a valuable layer of protection, helping you make informed decisions about your potential matches.

Free background check companies have few search parameters and rarely produce accurate results. Therefore, after thorough research and testing, we recommend TruthFinder for performing dark web scans. Intelius is an excellent choice for social media searches, while Spokeo is the top choice for dating background checks using a person’s name.