Googling Tinder/OLD people before meeting up

[RonaldS]

I know this is a common practice, especially for women. I know what shows up when my name is googled, so I don't care one bit if a woman does.

 

But here's where it can get weird...

 

I met up with a woman yesterday late afternoon. Everything went great, she was super cute, made out for a few, yada yada yada, who cares. But at one point, I was telling her something about my work, and she said 'I know....I googled you'.

 

I didn't think anything of it while we were together. But then, driving home, I thought about it and I was like, 'Wait....I never told her my last name'. So, I reviewed our entire text conversation, and our Tinder conversation before that, and at no point did I EVER tell her my last name. Or where I work. Or give her my email. I just googled my phone number, and nothing comes up there either.

 

How the eff did this girl google me?!

 

That's a little spooky.

[joyuez]

I know this is a common practice, especially for women. I know what shows up when my name is googled, so I don't care one bit if a woman does.

 

But here's where it can get weird...

 

I met up with a woman yesterday late afternoon. Everything went great, she was super cute, made out for a few, yada yada yada, who cares. But at one point, I was telling her something about my work, and she said 'I know....I googled you'.

 

I didn't think anything of it while we were together. But then, driving home, I thought about it and I was like, 'Wait....I never told her my last name'. So, I reviewed our entire text conversation, and our Tinder conversation before that, and at no point did I EVER tell her my last name. Or where I work. Or give her my email. I just googled my phone number, and nothing comes up there either.

 

How the eff did this girl google me?!

 

That's a little spooky.

 

 

Google image?

[katinlc]

Here's what I do. I always start with facebook. You can search by the person's first name and current city. If you're persistent enough you can usually find someone. I will note that I live in a relatively small city, so this would be much harder if you are looking in NYC. I've found most people use their facebook pic as one of their pics online.

 

 

I've also googled the users online profile name and have found information there, where they use that same handle for multiple things.

 

 

While I do a basic search for someone to make sure I'm not meeting a psycho, I would never admit to the person that I googled them.

[RonaldS]

I'm in a city of 10,000,000....so she either got lucky or logged some serious hours.

[RonaldS]

Google image?

 

How?

 

How can you pull an image off Tinder and mine it for info on that person? That's effed up. Otherwise, what would she google? Ronald Chicago? Sh*t.....she would have to look through hundreds of thousands of images.

 

This is weird.

[katinlc]

I'm in a city of 10,000,000....so she either got lucky or logged some serious hours.

 

 

 

Haha - that would maybe concern me because unless you have a unique first name (and I'm guessing not by your user name), I would think she would of had to put in serious hours unless you happen to have some mutual fb friends. That and the fact that she admitted she googled you, would have me a little concerned.

[RonaldS]

The only thing I can think of is that she used a cell look-up service, which means she paid money to cyberstalk me.

 

Terrific.

 

Well, at least I know I'm positioned well for some good psycho-sex.

[henderson14]

Google image?

 

Easy. You can find someone on facebook on your phone by having their phone #. She got your full name from this, and then put it in google.

[FitChick]

I'm so glad I'm not on Facebook.

[RonaldS]

Easy. You can find someone on facebook on your phone by having their phone #. She got your full name from this, and then put it in google.

 

That's great, except I don't have my phone # on Facebook. The # I have on my profile is an old number I don't use anymore.

[deathandtaxes]

You'd be surprised at what little bits of information somebody needs to get your name. If it worries you too much, start going by an alias or a nickname.

[TXGuy]

I know this is a common practice, especially for women. I know what shows up when my name is googled, so I don't care one bit if a woman does.

 

But here's where it can get weird...

 

I met up with a woman yesterday late afternoon. Everything went great, she was super cute, made out for a few, yada yada yada, who cares. But at one point, I was telling her something about my work, and she said 'I know....I googled you'.

 

I didn't think anything of it while we were together. But then, driving home, I thought about it and I was like, 'Wait....I never told her my last name'. So, I reviewed our entire text conversation, and our Tinder conversation before that, and at no point did I EVER tell her my last name. Or where I work. Or give her my email. I just googled my phone number, and nothing comes up there either.

 

How the eff did this girl google me?!

 

That's a little spooky.

 

It is easy. An accurate first name and just about anything else (occupation, for example) will be enough. If you have a linkedin account, check to see who has viewed your profile recently. I've been able to find about 60% of the women I am scheduled to meet in person somewhere on the internet prior to the meeting. First name, occupation, city...I'll spend maybe 10 minutes. If I was willing to spend more time, I'm sure I could raise that 60% number quite a bit.

 

ETA: I forgot about reverse phone number look-up. It is like $2 per search or $20/month unlimited searches. That is probably the easiest way, but I generally don't do down that road.

Edited June 28, 2014 by TXGuy

[RonaldS]

It is easy. An accurate first name and just about anything else (occupation, for example) will be enough. If you have a linkedin account, check to see who has viewed your profile recently. I've been able to find about 60% of the women I am scheduled to meet in person somewhere on the internet prior to the meeting. First name, occupation, city...I'll spend maybe 10 minutes. If I was willing to spend more time, I'm sure I could raise that 60% number quite a bit.

 

In a metro area of 10 million? Come on. I could buy that in a small city, but not in a major city. I have a fairly common first name and I didn't even tell her specifically what I do for a living. Only generally.

[henderson14]

That's great, except I don't have my phone # on Facebook. The # I have on my profile is an old number I don't use anymore.

 

Yes. But you probably have Facebook on your phone. It probably pulls the number from the app, not what you listed.

Edited June 28, 2014 by henderson14

[RonaldS]

Yes. But you probably have Facebook on your phone. It probably pulls he number from he app, not what you listed.

 

I just tried it. It doesn't come up.

 

I think she did the reverse look-up. The fact that she spent money, even if only a few dollars, to Google stalk me is concerning enough that I....well, I was going to say avoid her, but I should probably hit it at least once before I disappear.