Dating advice · Matchfinder archive
Which Number Should I Give Out?
Published · 2 min read
From the Matchfinder archive. References to site features and some advice may reflect an earlier version of the service. Read our current safety guidance.
This guy and I have been emailing back and forth for about two weeks. He hasn't yet asked for my number, so I'm thinking of offering it to him so he'll call me. The problem is that I don't know if I should give him my mobile phone number or my home phone number. What should I do?
It's always important to keep your guard up when communicating with someone online. With that in mind, you may want to think of initially giving your mobile phone number. The reason why is because someone armed with your home phone number can go online and easily find out what your home address is! This can usually be done in less than 20 seconds. And with your home phone and home address, a person with the wrong intentions can find out a lot more private information about you online. This is unfortunate, but part of the society we live in today.
This brings up a second point. If you call someone else from home, they can find out what number you called from by simply pressing three keys on their touch tone phone after you hang up. You can avoid this by calling your phone company and telling them you want your number blocked when calling other people.
Online dating is a lot of fun and there are a ton of awesome people doing it. But there are also those who have ulterior motives, thus keeping your guard up at all times is a smart thing to do.