Australian phone number search

How to check someone before a first date

By the StoryCheck team · 7 min read · Published 29 September 2026

Before a first date in Australia, it makes sense to confirm three things: that your match is the person in the photos, that their name and number hold up, and that you have a safe plan for the meeting. A short video call, a reverse image search of their photos and a private check of their phone number cover the first two in about fifteen minutes. Meeting somewhere busy, getting yourself there and home, and telling a friend where you will be covers the third.

Is it OK to look someone up before a date?

Yes. Checking that a stranger is who they say before you meet them alone is ordinary caution, not snooping. eSafety's own advice includes searching a match's photos to see whether they show up under a different name, and it treats constant excuses to avoid a video chat as a warning sign. It is common, too: in StoryCheck lookup data from July to September 2026, 28% of people in Australia who checked a number said dating app activity was what they most wanted to know about.

The respectful line is simple. Check identity, not their whole life. Stick to what is public or licensed, keep what you find to yourself, and never use it to turn up at someone's home or work uninvited. StoryCheck is for personal use such as confirming who you are talking to or protecting yourself from fraud. It is not a credit reporting body under the Privacy Act, and results must not be used for decisions about credit, employment, insurance or tenancy.

What should you check before you meet?

If they have only given you a first name, the name search needs a surname as well, so the phone number is usually the better place to start. And if any photo turns up under someone else's name, stop and read how to tell if someone is real before going any further.

How do you plan a safe first date?

1. 1

   Meet somewhere busy

   eSafety's advice is to meet and stay in a busy public place, such as a cafe, a shopping centre or a park, where there are always other people around. Save their place, and yours, for later dates.

2. 2

   Get yourself there and home

   Drive, take public transport or book your own ride, so you can leave whenever you like and they do not learn your address on the first night.

3. 3

   Tell a friend the plan

   Tinder's Share My Date, first piloted in Australia and New Zealand, and Bumble's Share Date let you send a friend who you are meeting, where and when, and update it if plans change.

4. 4

   Plan an out

   eSafety suggests mentioning a reason you need to leave at a set time, such as meeting a friend afterwards or a bus you have to be on, so ending the date early is easy.

5. 5

   Charge your phone and mind your drink

   A charged phone means you can call your friend or the police. Keep your drink with you, and order a new one if you have left it unattended.

6. 6

   Trust your instincts

   If something feels wrong, eSafety's advice is simply to leave. You do not owe anyone an explanation.

What do the dating apps do to keep you safe?

Findings like these from the Australian Institute of Criminology are the backdrop to the Online Dating Industry Code. Since enforcement began on 1 April 2025, the apps that signed it, including Match Group's Tinder and Hinge, Bumble and Grindr, have had to make complaint and reporting tools prominent, detect and act on harm, ban serious offenders across all of the company's apps, publish how many Australian accounts they terminate and work with police when someone is in immediate danger.

The apps have added their own checks too. Tinder has required a video selfie called Face Check from new users in Australia since 16 September 2025. Bumble added optional ID verification in Australia in March 2025 and lets you ask a match to verify, and Hinge offers optional Selfie Verification. A badge confirms that a face matches its photos, not that the person behind it is safe, so it adds to the checks above rather than replacing them.

What can't you check before a date?

Some things are off limits, and it is worth knowing which before you go looking. A National Police Check needs the consent of the person being checked, so you cannot run one on a match. In New South Wales, the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme lets a person ask police about a current or former partner's history of violence, but it is designed for relationships, not first dates. And no service can lawfully search inside a dating app, read messages or see who someone is chatting to.

A reverse lookup does something narrower, and says so: it confirms whether the line is a real mobile rather than a throwaway internet number, suggests a possible name with a confidence level, shows the WhatsApp photo when their settings allow, and lists public profiles linked to the number. If your real question is whether someone you are already seeing is still on the apps, read is my partner on dating apps first, because the honest answer is more limited than most sites admit.

What if something feels off?

• Before the date, you can simply cancel. Unmatch, block and report the profile in the app, which the industry code requires the apps to act on.
• If they ask for money, crypto or gift cards at any point, treat it as a scam. Read the romance scam warning signs and report it to Scamwatch.
• If they threaten to share intimate images, do not pay. Save the evidence, report the account to the platform, and report to eSafety, which can help get images removed.
• During or after a date, if you feel unsafe, leave and call 000 in an emergency. When it is not urgent, police are on 131 444, and 1800RESPECT is there around the clock.