We've all heard the bad online dating experience stories, a friend of a friend went to meet a guy she met while trying out online dating and he turned out to be a lying creep. Nothing he said was true and that friend of a friend was now broken hearted. Ack, it's possible I might be that friend of a friend, cause I met that guy and he was nothing like he said.

There is no fail safe way to know that the guys you are in contact with on your online dating experience are being completely honest with you. From my own online dating experience, most aren't all that honest. There are ways to make sure you know the truth about the some of the most important things about them, such as their real name, where they live, and are they really single. Some are free, some cost a little, and some cost a lot.

Always start with a free search at ZabaSearch. Here you can sometimes find out his address, phone number, and birth month and year. Not everyone is listed here and it's a real hit or miss. If you are unable to find him here then there is another way which I have been known to use.

Paying $15 or less on a search is fine for piece of mind. If you are feeling the need to fork out $70 for a full background check on someone, save your money and follow your gut. Obviously you aren't sure about this one. Ditch him and find someone else who doesn't make you question their past.

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When I am looking for a new man with online dating I do everything I can to validate whatever my potential dates are telling me. I do Google searches of their names and screen names attached to their e-mails. I also look them up if possible on Myspace to make sure that what they were telling me was the same as they were telling their friends. One really nice guy I was interested in seemed sincere. Imagine my suprise when I found out that even though he claimed to be single, his myspace page, and his girlfriend that was posting to his comments clearly showed he was not. Think that situation is rare,? Ha! it's more common then you could ever imagine. Call it the grass is greener syndrome. Already bought the house, but he's always looking to see if there is a hotter location with a better view. Don't get yourself involved with these kinds of guys

There are more methods to use. Most of them cost a little bit of money. www.Intellius.com is one of the most popular background information sites only because of heavy advertising. The information provided leaves much to be desired, unless you want to know where he's lived previously, and how much the entire apartment building he was renting is was worth. There really are better more affordable ways to find out the things you really need to know without all the extra unneccesary information the expensive background search reports will tell you.

Reverse Phone Lookup tools are a great example of a easy search that will take the phone number the guy is calling you with and give the full name and address assigned to that number. If you are interested in just one person, you can pay for this information for a one time costs of $14.95. I personally think this is too much and suggest doing a yearly unlimited look up but for online dating this is a whole lot better then paying $70 to Intellius. Reverse Phone Lookup is the smart way to go.

Because you will probably be talking with multiple guys (I spoke on the phone with 4 to 8 different guys in an average week). I do feel it is workth it to take advantage of the yearly membership for $39.95. A little more than half the cost of Intellius but instead of 1 background report for $70, you are able to look up unlimited phone numbers for the entire year for about $40. This service or any other like it will give you piece of mind that is well worth the fee.

This is also a great way to screen the guys before you even speak to them on the phone. You can ask for their phone number in e-mail, mentioning that you'd like to call them sometime, then look them up and verify information. It won't give you criminal records, but it will tell you the full name of the phone owner, their address, and their birth date.

In my experience, if you are combining this method with Google and Myspace searches you will get the piece of mind you need to know that at least he is being truthful about who he is. Just remember, not all information will be accurate. Some guys might be borrowing a friends phone, so just casually try and verify if something doesn't seem right. Don't come out and tell him you are doing a search, if there is something not right, don't let him know your on to him.

If any key piece of information about him does not match what he tells you GET RID OF HIM! If a guy is not truthful about his name, age, or anything else you can verify, then something is not right.