Staying safe in a chat
Talking to someone new should be enjoyable, not risky. Here is what to share, what to never send, and exactly which controls you have when a conversation goes wrong.
The three rules worth remembering
Most bad experiences online come down to the same three mistakes. If you only take one thing from this page, take these.
- Never send money. Not a transfer, not a gift card, not crypto, not "just to prove you are real". Anyone who moves the conversation towards money is running a script, not having a conversation.
- Never share a verification code. A code sent to your phone or email is the key to one of your accounts. Nobody legitimate needs it, including us.
- Never share identifying details early. Your full name, address, workplace, school, bank details or ID documents have no place in a conversation with someone you just met.
What you control
Leaving
You can end a conversation at any moment, and you do not owe anyone a reason. If someone tries to make leaving feel rude, that pressure is itself the reason to leave.
Blocking
Blocking stops that person contacting you and adds them to your blocked list. It is reversible — the list is somewhere you can look at later and unblock someone if you change your mind — so you never have to hesitate about using it.
Reporting
Reporting sends the problem in for review. You pick a reason, you can describe what happened, and you can attach a screenshot if that makes the report clearer. It is not instant, so if someone is bothering you right now, block first and report after. Report anything in this list:
- Harassment, threats or abuse
- Sexual content or requests you did not consent to
- Anyone who appears to be under 18
- Requests for money, gift cards, crypto or verification codes
- Links to sites you did not ask for
- Anyone pressuring you to move to another platform
Blocking someone and reporting them are separate actions, and doing both is fine. Blocking protects you now; reporting is what gives anyone the chance to act on it.
Before you turn a camera on
Video is optional here — a text conversation asks nothing of your camera or microphone. If you do go to video, take thirty seconds first: check what is behind you, whether anything in frame identifies where you live or work, and whether you are comfortable being seen at all today. The answer is allowed to be no.
Assume anything on camera can be recorded. That is true of every video service, ours included. Do not show anything you would not want kept — and never let anyone talk you into it because they promise they are not recording.
Signs a conversation is not what it looks like
- The story escalates fast — deep affection or a crisis within minutes.
- They want to move to another app immediately, before you have talked about anything.
- Answers do not line up with earlier ones, or feel copied and pasted.
- They will not talk about anything ordinary, only about you.
- Any mention of money, an investment, a gift card, or "helping them out".
None of these on its own proves bad intent. Two or three together is enough to end the conversation. Ending one costs you nothing — there is another one a tap away.
If something has already gone wrong
Block the person, then report them with as much detail as you can. If you have sent money, contact your bank or the payment provider straight away — speed matters more than anything else at that point. If you have been threatened, or the other person appears to be a minor, contact your local police as well: we can act on an account, but only law enforcement can act on a person.
Do not delete the conversation before you report it. What is still there is the evidence.
Read the community guidelines for the rules everyone here agrees to, and the privacy policy for what is recorded and why.
Contact
To report something that a report inside the chat does not cover, use the report and support controls inside the chat. A published support address will be added here once it is live.