Should I Use My Real Name on Bumble?

It can be thrilling to meet a crush and connect with them online, but there are consequent risks. The more you explore Bumble craving for your perfect match, you may fall victim to erotic content.

Bumble is a cosmopolitan dating site accommodating different socio-culturally inclined participants. You’ll be asked for nudes or even harassed. In as much as you use the exact location and real images, you will likely find a relative right there, looking for a munchkin too.

Your friends will stalk you. Your boyfriend/ girlfriend would jealously wish to understand what activities you engage in with other participants. You may interact with a pseudo, thinking that you found that perfect soulmate. There are several reported instances of catfishing too.

To mention but a few, though Bumble has verification filters, these are the challenges and risks you encounter. Bumble may not be liable to some risks, as per their privacy policy. You rely on the dating site for tips, best practices, and relationship decisions as a user.

Since the birth of Bumble in December 2014, online dating is becoming well-established daily. The much we depend on Bumble, so has misconduct grown; harassment, cyberstalking, catfishing, fake profiles, doxxing, etc.

Should you use your real name?

Your name identifies almost everything about you. Let’s dive into the likely throwbacks of using real identity information on Bumble.

Harassment

When signing up for Bumble, you are expected to uphold virtues and ethics. You share your information intending to build an intimate connection with your Juliet/ Romeo. Yet virtual stalkers may dox you. Unless you hide your profile and other information from the public, a cyberstalker may misuse them.

Another stalker may decide to destroy your reputation. All they do is create a catfish profile and use a pseudonym or your real name. Such malice may also land you in swatting, and consequently, mental/physical ill health.

Catfishing

Catfishing happens when you think you found a perfect match, but they are fake. Your partner uses phony profile pictures and dishonest life experiences and circumstances. You keep communicating and sharing cherishable moments. You got each other’s vibes. What kind of love!

Yet it will later on dawn on you that you dated the wrong person all along. A series of excuses will arise when you suggest a date or retreat. How do you tell a catfish? They’re your heart, yet you cannot video chat. They show up for a meet-up earlier than promised, and vanishes before you appear. They can even feign illness, arrest, accidents, class make-up, etc.

By the way, you can just take a few actions to avoid such flattery. You can look up their email id, account name, and pictures on the Social Catfish platform. At least you will tell who your perfect is. If you discover they are a catfish, you can report to Bumble, attaching any relevant supporting information.

Identity theft

Scammers and doxxers waylay every social media app with malice. If your intruder, maybe an ex-partner or a creepy jealous friend, wants to tarnish your public profile, they begin mining information and data related to your name. There are high chances that you will get doxxed when you use your real name on Bumble.

You may have shared your real name, profile photo bearing your location and addresses at the background, timestamped images, metadata files, etc. Google is a magical tool. Doxxers and attackers can bet on your probability of reusing login credentials across other platforms.

When your profile photos are plugged into Google lens or any other reverse image search tool, your other online presence turns up; LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook. What are the consequences? With sophisticated tools, a cyberstalker-boyfriend or girlfriend- can produce a  single file of your integrated information. They can tell your workplace, and schools attended, likes and dislikes, email id, phone numbers, family members, physical location, among others.

How to create a Bumble profile safely

Bumble is a dating site, so your profile should be outstanding. Your perfect match is likely to be someone you like, but you should have an alluring picture. You should censor the amount of information you share.

You can share your profession but not the town you work. Use a burner username. Unless it’s an alias or an initial, do not use your real name. In fact, you should not use the same username across multiple social media accounts.

Bumble’s privacy policy on using real names does not encourage reckless use of real identification credentials. Providing more personally identifiable like birthdates, birth year, ID number, etc., is a risk. An attacker can look you up and establish any harmful malice.

Choice of  photos

Your photo is worth a thousand words. Did you know that an image has metadata that contains a lot of your information? Last month, a  friend was lazing in his brother’s room, snapped himself, and posted on a platform. In less than 18 hours, the website members looked up the location and the brother’s identity. His social media accounts were exposed.

All this information was only based on the photo background information. As aforementioned, reverse image search does wonder.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Bumble profile

• Use a unique burner username that you have not used elsewhere online.
• Make sure that the background of your photos does not display sensitive content.
• Use a burner email address. It should not contain any of your personal information.

Wrapping up

Bumble is a dating service that connects people from different places. You should balance between impressions and sensitive data. You should use burner username, name, and email addresses. The photos you post should not have any personally identifiable information on them.