There are more and more wonderful stories about people who after quite a bit of skepticism tried online dating and really did meet the person of their dreams. At least for a little while anyway.

An industry that was once considered the home of losers and only the truly desperate has slowly worked itself into the cultural mainstream. Now it is quite common to see more than a few commercials on television advertising an online dating service. And why not since it is estimated that over forty million American singles are now giving online dating a try. Good news for the industry since this number is projected to grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years.

But nothing is perfect and that goes for cyberdating as well. One complaint you hear quite often is you never know who it is that you are exactly trying to connect with. Among the things that make internet dating so potent is the ability to stay in the shadows so to speak.

Being anonymous is a powerful tool. It can help you to remain detached and avoid much of the stress that comes as you sift through an almost endless parade of possible candidates. It can also be of great benefit in protecting you as well as your personal information from scammers.

And then there is the flip side of it. People using anonymity effectively to tell little or major white lies about their appearance, age, social standing or anything else they feel needs hiding. Others take it further to draw anyone they can into their private and highly warped universe.

That universe includes scammers who are skilled at talking their victims into opening their bank accounts for the sole purpose of draining it. While the online dating industry has been experience a major boom so have the con artist as well. Just about every other day now you can check out a local news item on who lost how much to an online dating scam.

Other people are not so lucky. They meet someone who says all the right things only to meet that person and find out too late they are dealing with someone with more sinister motives than scamming them for cash. North Jersey News reports that a Teaneck man was charged with sexually assaulting a young woman he met online.

Anonymity in the wrong hands can be quite destructive that is why when it comes to online dating your personal safety must always remain your number one priority. No matter how many hours of chat and laughter the two of you share and the strong feeling that you know this person, it is essential to keep one thing in mind. You don't.