Online dating apps such as Tinder, Grindr, Bumble and more have become very common over the years for young people to meet and date. However, recent news shows that there can be many dangers that come with dating apps.

According to The Associated Press, A western Pennsylvanian man created a fake online dating profile in a plan to lure and rape a woman inside her own home. The targets are not limited to just women; everyone is in danger with this new epidemic.
Students at Bucks are feeling intimidated by these actions of online dating scares.

Holly Page, a 19-year-old communications major from Levittown, said, “I believe that online dating is an unsafe environment because you don’t get face to face interaction with people. Females can’t properly defend themselves 24/7. It’s unsafe.”
Page is not the only student at Bucks to feel this way.

19-year-old Christine Fitzpatrick from Langhorne, Business major, said she uses the dating app, Tinder. She said, “Sometimes I get nervous about meeting people through the app, but nothing bad has happened yet.”

Fizpatrick also felt that it’s a good way for people to get out there and conform to how the world is now.

“I think that girls are more of a target because they are stereotypically weaker and if something were to happen they wouldn’t be able to defend themselves as quickly,” explained Fitzpatrick.
Female users are not the only ones who are having their doubts.

Josh McGrory, 18, a business major from Feasterville, rejects dating apps and feels it is better to meet people in person to see if you have a real connection.
According to Statista, an online website for statistics, almost half of US online users have met a romantic partner on a dating website. Yet crimes involving dating apps have doubled in 4 years according to Refinery.

A Statista chart, said 45 percent of dating app users from ages 18 to 34 use the app to find an exclusive dating partner, but 27 percent are use the app for casual sex. The remaining 26 percent of these user either use it to cheat on their significant other or simply just wanted to see what the app was like. The other two percent of people preferred not to say.
While dating apps helped strangers meet when they may have never met otherwise, there are still dangers involving the app and caution should be taken.