A person’s less-than-honest intentions come with quite a few warning signs. These include someone who avoids calling you, who provides too little personal information, and whose social media profiles seem fake.
They might be hard to contact, giving you an obscure email address or a number you can never reach. If the person does pick up, they’re always in a hurry to end the call. They are only available to talk at a specific time interval.
Another red flag is that they will never tell you where they live. The person continues being secretive even after a few dates. You always see them at a hotel or your place. They always make excuses why they can’t meet you at their home, like ongoing renovations, and never spend the night.
Just one of these warning signs isn’t enough to draw a conclusion, but if there are several red flags, you might start to smell a rat. But how can you know for sure?
Table of Contents
Google Search
Search Google to see if their name appears on a blog, a personal site, or a company website. It might appear on social media accounts, which you never knew about.
Check the White Pages or the phone book to see if their number is listed. You can then use a people finder to perform a reverse phone lookup. Phone books publish listed numbers with mailing addresses. You’ll finally know where they live. You might also learn that they don’t live alone at that address.
If this is the case, know that phone listings aren’t 100% reliable. They aren’t always current, for one thing. Your significant other might have gotten divorced since the information was published.
Check for a Marriage Certificate
If you’re starting to have serious doubts, go to the district courthouse or visit the site and look for a marriage certificate. Assuming the person lives in the same district, it should be the courthouse in your jurisdiction. Public records can be very useful for your need. As marriage records are usually public, they will reveal a person’s marriage history.
It would help if you had their full name to search a public record. Don’t rely on just the first and last name, especially if it’s a common one, like Bob Jones.
There are exceptions to every rule, so not all marriage applications or licenses are publicly accessible. Some states have special laws to protect this personal information. There might also be a divorce record if there is a marriage record.
Background Check Sites
You can look for marriage and divorce records on background check websites. This search is usually free and can be effective. Screening providers search county and state databases and retrieve data from countless sources in a fraction of a second.
Social Media
Social media can reveal if a promising partner is married. Don’t trust their relationship status on Facebook. Explore the photos they’ve posted. Are they pictured with anyone that might look like more than a friend? If it’s a recent picture, they might still be involved.
The complete absence of pictures can also be a red flag unless you know the person is painfully shy. If they aren’t, but their social media profile is sparsely populated, it could be a warning sign.
Other Indications
Did they hide their hands when you first met? Maybe they were wearing their wedding ring, or there was a light area on their skin where they used to wear a band or ring.
People who always pay cash do it, so they don’t leave a paper trail. Never paying any way other than cash tends to mean a person has something to hide, either income or a spouse.
Maybe it’s best to ask them directly? Their reaction could be entirely unexpected.