Hookup/Meetup ID Scams: How to Identify Real from Fake Hook up IDs

Due to the number of people looking for a hookup id nowadays, hundreds of fake ones are now all over the internet. Once you fall victim to these fraudulent hookup id providers, you will either get your identity or money stolen. For everyone’s safety, we differentiated below legit from scam hookup ids. We will also share with you actual messages that these scammers are using to rip off online daters and actual samples of fake Meetup IDs.

Before we begin, you should know that whether they call it dating id, meetup id, or date id, there’s no difference. Using a different name doesn’t mean and guarantee that they are legitimate. Some also call it hookup verification clearance, safe meetup form, dating verification id. There will always be real and fake ids.

If you’re not sure what a Hookup ID is, here’s a quick definition: Hookup ID is an online profile that you can obtain from dating verification sites. To be able to get a verified status on the site, your account needs to undergo certain tests and background checks before first. The test includes the following:

• Name and age verification: This is to make sure that you’re not using a stolen identity and that you’re not a minor.
• Photo verification: To avoid people using fake downloaded photos from signing up on the site.
• Criminal background check: This is to prevent people who have been convicted of any sexual crimes from using dating apps.

Why do you need a hookup ID: If you’re wondering what’s the reason why online daters nowadays are being required to get these safety IDs, criminals today are using dating apps to search for lonely and vulnerable people to prey on. Here’s an article from sky news where they talked about the dark sides of online dating. Some excerpts from the article:

Reported crimes related to online dating have risen dramatically in the last five years.

Around seven million UK residents are currently registered on dating sites, and it’s estimated one in three relationships in the UK now starts online.

Sky News found crimes involving two of the biggest apps, Tinder and Grindr, have been rising year on year.

Some users told me they’ve now noticed a darker side to dating ranging from an increase in fake profiles to drug-fuelled sex parties.

These online dating crimes are usually involving physical violence, extortion, and identity and money theft.

Dating Safety IDs are widely being used in these countries: US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Norwegian, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden.

Here’s a video by Dating Security Advisor that explains how online dating verification works:

Scam Hookup IDs

Since almost everyone on dating sites requires their dates for a safety ID, a lot of fake “Hookup ID providers” are now penetrating online dating apps to just find victims. After gaining your trust, they will start selling you fake Hookup ID, Meetup ID, Date ID, or whatever they call it. No need to worry because it’s very simple to spot a fake Hookup ID provider, here are some of the red flags you want to keep an eye on:

1. They will ask you to send a payment for the Hookup ID. From the start, these scammers will ask you to message them via email or wherever outside of the dating app. And then there they will ask you if you already have your Hookup ID. And if you’re a complete beginner in online dating and never heard of it before, they will deceive you into buying a Hookup ID from them. Hookup ID scammers usually ask their victims to send the “Hookup ID payment” via western union, world remit, remitly, wise, or any kind of online money sending service. Some may also ask you to buy a prepaid card and send them the details.

Legitimate verification sites may ask for payment but make sure to pay on the website itself, not on some remittance sites like Western Union.

Always remember this number one safety tip we give to online daters: Never send money to anyone you just met from online dating sites without knowing their real identity and motive.

2. They will ask for very personal info. If a Hookup provider asks you for information like your birthdate, complete address, pet’s name, mother’s maiden name, first school, favorite teacher, etc. Never give it to them. Scammers can use this information to steal your online accounts not just your online dating app profile but also your email, social media, and bank accounts. How? these are the information that you use to recover or change passwords of your online accounts.

3. Fake websites. If the Hookup ID provider sends you a link to get your ID, always check these things before signing up:

• Unsecure link. There should a lock icon before the website URL. Websites that don’t have the lock icon means they are using http and not the secure https. This means that any information you enter on that website is not safe.

• Bad grammar. Most people don’t care about this, but according to our data 90% of scammers live in non-English speaking countries or English is not their first language.

Signing up on fake websites most probably will lead you to getting your personal information most crucially your banking info hacked.

4. They will ask you to download certain software. Never download and install a program that some stranger tells you to on your computer or on your mobile phone. There’s a chance that the software you’re going to install is some kind of remote access software that allows the scammers to gain control of your device. Once they gain control of your pc, they can copy any information and file they want. It might also come with malware that steals information.

5. Subscription based verification. There is no such thing as monthly or yearly membership for a hookup id. You will only need to verify once and that’s it. Although some verification sites will charge you if you will do background checks for more than one person.

Here’s a sample conversation with scammer who is trying to make their victim sign up for a fake hookup id website:

Here’s also a sample email from a scammer asking for a payment of 200 dollars in exchange for a “safety check id”:

Thank you Customer we will process your SAFETY CHECK ID .You need to send the payment of $200 via wire transfer tru Moneygram
or Western union to

FIRSTNAME :
LASTNAME :
COUNTRY:
ADDRESS :

Note : Be careful of the spelling of the name when sending it .
As soon as we recieve the payment we will process your SAFETY CHECK ID within 3-5hrs and send you the copy of your SAFETY
CHECK ID to your email. It is valid to use together with the consumable amount for hotel reservations.
Please send us the receipt after you sent the payment. Thank you.

6. The Cost. One way to identify fake hookup verification sites is the cost of the service. If they say it’s 100% free, expect that it will be not. Free ones are usually accompanied by a lot of hidden charges. Legit Meetup ID sites on the other hand should cost around $100 or less. Never pay if they ask for more than 100, those links are obviously just trying to rip you off. Most of these ID scammers will even ask you to send thousands of dollars if you are gullible enough.

Example of fake “Verify your age” dating id website:

Legit Hookup ID

If you search for Hookup ID in the internet, you will find hundreds of websites offering you one. That’s why it’s very important to know how to spot which one is real. There are only a few genuine dating security id providers that actually use identity verification systems.

The verification site we recommend that is the most affordable and works on all dating sites is DateBadge.

1. The only real verification process. There’s only one method of verification that legit Hookup ID providers use. You will be asked to enter your name, age, address. And then you will upload a photo of your driver’s license or any national identification document. After that, you will just have to wait for the verification process to complete and that’s it. You don’t need to send money to someone from South Africa for them to process your “Hookup ID”.

Real id sites will ask for payment. But look around the site if it has actual verification process, if payment or credit card form is all there is on the site. That obviously is a knock off.

2. Secure website. This is just the opposite of what we said about fake websites earlier. Check if there’s a lock icon before the website’s URL. That means the website is using https, here’s a short definition of https from wikipedia:

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is an extension of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). It is used for secure communication over a computer network, and is widely used on the Internet.In HTTPS, the communication protocol is encrypted using Transport Layer Security (TLS) or, formerly, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). The protocol is therefore also referred to as HTTP over TLS, or HTTP over SSL.

The principal motivations for HTTPS are authentication of the accessed website, and protection of the privacy and integrity of the exchanged data while in transit. It protects against man-in-the-middle attacks, and the bidirectional encryption of communications between a client and server protects the communications against eavesdropping and tampering. In practice, this provides a reasonable assurance that one is communicating with the intended website without interference from attackers.

3. Check for reviews. Before signing up on websites claiming to be hookup id badge providers, search for reviews on google first. Read ratings from actual users to know whether it is a legit hookup id website or not. Just type on google “hookup id reviews” or “is meetup id legit”.

4. Lifetime Verification. A legit hookup id verification should be a lifetime. You do not need to pay a certain amount every 30 days or 12 months. It’s not like a driver’s license where you need to renew every few years.

Did you know that Hookup ID is not really necessary to verify someone’s identity? You can easily tell if your date is telling the truth about their identity just by doing a video call. No need to trouble yourself with these hookup id websites. But if you really insist to get a Hookup ID, be sure to read and understand this article to be able to spot the scams.

More Online Dating Scams to watch out for

You should also be aware of the famous love scam. Scammers will use fake name and photos and try to deceive you into sending them money. Watch out for these 3 signs of romance scam.

Another well-known dating site scam that thousands of people fall for is sextortion or blackmail. It’s very simple, they will ask you for your social media accounts first, then ask you to send them a naked photo or video of yourself. They can now use this to extort and blackmail you. Scammers will threaten to send these photos or videos to your friends or family on social media if you don’t send them money.

Is the dating site you are using full of fake profiles? Here’s a list of dating sites we recommend that has 100% chance of you landing an actual date and guaranteed that all members are real. Legit Dating Sites

Conclusion

It’s a real no-brainer to identify fake from real Hookup ID providers and websites. A hundred percent of scam Hookup IDs ask you to send money via wire or money remittances, while legit ones do the real method of identity verification wherein they just ask for some details and do a real background check. So next time someone from India or South Africa asks you to pay for any kind of ID, block them right away and report their profile so they will be banned from the dating app. The only dating id site we recommend is datebadge.com

Help us stop scammers

Share this article with your friends who are using dating apps to let them be aware of these types of online dating scams.

And if you see someone on forums and communities asking questions about the legitimacy of Hookup IDs and Meetup IDs, here’s the link to this article: https://onlinedatingsecurity.com/legit-vs-scam-hookup-id (Click Here to Copy Link)

If you yourself have been a victim of these online dating scams, we highly encourage you to share your story in the comments below, you can greatly help others. Here’s an example, and you can read more of them in the comments section:

Wish I’d found this site two days ago.
Got hooked right in, speaking to a lovely girl, who only at the last minute mentions this “id” so I paid the $200 for the “temporary” id only to be told that as she had the standard I would need to upgrade to that at a cost of $400 extra.
Foolishly did so as there was supposed to be a “refund” at the end of the process, only to then get told to pay another $600 to “activate the account”
Fortunately I’ve not done the final payment, and I’ve raised the 400 with the bank, the original was from a prepayment card, so that’s lost.

You can always contact us if you have any concerns.