ONLINE DATING: BEST PRACTICES & SAFETY AWARENESS

Cougar Life is where modern, confident women connect with younger men for fun, exciting relationships. We do our best to protect your privacy and security, and there are steps you can take as well to keep your information private.

To help you stay aware and make the right decisions online, we’ve put together a few tips to help you connect with other members safely, securely, and privately.

Make Sure to Protect your Personal Information

Safeguard your privacy by following a few simple steps:

• Sharing any personal information that can identify you (e.g., your full name, personal email address, home address, phone number, name of your workplace, details of your daily routine, any social media profiles, etc.) could be used maliciously. Make sure you trust the member you are connecting with before sharing any information that may be used against you.
• Do not post photos that are identical or very similar to photos that are available elsewhere (such as on a social media site). These could be used to identify you (for example, using Google’s image search function). Instead, use different photos and/or our fun editing features to mask (perhaps literally!) your identity.
• Some information, such as home addresses, credit card numbers, social security numbers (USA), social insurance numbers (Canada) and similar government ID numbers as may be used in your country of residence, should NEVER be shared. 
• Be suspicious of any member asking for any of this information.

How to Keep Your Account & Personal Information Secure

• Be sure to pick a strong password for your account AND another one for the device you use to access your account (i.e., computer, cellphone or iPad/tablet).
• If you log in to your account from a public or shared device (which we do not recommend), make sure the device does not save your login information, and be sure to clear the browser history before you leave.
• As an additional layer of security, on the Cougar Life app you also can turn on two-factor authentication and set up a PIN (within the application) to protect your account. You can turn these on by visiting the Settings page from your Profile.
• If privacy is a concern, don’t use your personal or work email address.  Also,  don’t use any part of your name in your email address (e.g., [email protected]). Instead, you can sign up at Cougar Life using a separate free email account that you create  just for use on our platform. If you’ve already signed up and want to make a change, simply go to the “Settings” page and change the email address that is associated with your account. Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and other companies offer free email addresses and don’t require you to use your home address to create an account.
• Create a username that doesn’t identify you in any way — like “Romantic_at_Heart”
• Strongly consider ending any communication with any member who tries to pressure you for personal or financial information or attempts in any way to coerce you or trick you into revealing these kinds of details.
• Do not send money to an individual you meet online, especially by wire transfer, even if they claim to be experiencing an emergency.
• Be cautious of fraudulent members. Anyone who can commit identity theft can also create false profiles in an attempt to mislead you or gain access to your personal information.
• If you think a profile might be fraudulent in nature – if their behavior is suspicious, offensive, harassing, threatening, fraudulent, or involves a request for money or an attempt to sell a product or service – please report it so we can investigate accordingly.
• To report a profile, tap on the three dots icon in the top right-hand corner when viewing another member’s profile and tap “Report.”

Stay on Cougar Life: Be Wary of Members Who Want to Take your Conversation Somewhere Else

• No matter who you are connecting with, always use caution when it comes to a member wanting to meet you face-to-face.
• Until a level of trust is established between members, we advise all members to remain on our site and app (i.e., only use our messaging features to communicate) before providing any personal information that would enable contact off our platform.
• There are no services offered by Cougar Life that will force you to leave the website or app. Cougar Life does not sponsor any services that will have you leave our platforms, and any member trying to convince you otherwise (for example, asking you to sign up for an extra “security” feature)  is acting maliciously.  Please report them (click the three dots in the top right corner when viewing their profile, then click “Report”).
• Remember that your interactions with other members which take place outside of our website and mobile app (e.g., via phone calls, video conferences, or in real life) are not interactions that we would be able to moderate or review for suspicious activity.  
• Keep your interactions on our website until you feel you can trust someone to not misuse your personal information (such as your phone number).
• If you decide and feel comfortable to have a face-to-face meeting with another member whom you met on our website or app, let a family member or friend know where you’re meeting your date and when you will return. 
• You also should never agree to be picked up at your home or place of work. Use your own form of transportation to and from your date.  If possible, meet in a public place with plenty of people for an even safer experience.

Malicious Email (Phishing)

• Cougar Life will never ask you to provide your mailing address or social media information.
• When emailing with our Customer Support team, we may ask you for the email address (if different from the one you are using to communicate with us), username, and profile number that are associated with your account.  If your query involves a payment issue, or if the information you have provided has some errors in it and we need to know more to ensure we are speaking with the actual account holder, then we may ask you for the last four digits of the credit card you used or for similar information, such as your PayPal transfer ID, as well as information about your last payment (i.e., we may need to ask for partial payment details but we will never ask for full payment details via email). 
• If you need our help to process a payment, we will need your full payment details (including the name on the card and full card number), and we will only ask for those via our online chat function, NOT email, to protect your privacy.
• No matter which method of communication you use, we will strive to ask for the least amount of personal information necessary to provide you with the support services you need.
• As with all of the world’s most popular dating websites, be wary of spammers who can sometimes send fake emails posing as customer service representatives. This is called a “phishing” scam and it’s how fraudsters try to get personal information.
• If you receive a phishing email or a communication that does not seem legitimate, please flag it as spam and report it within your email service provider and reach out to our Customer Support team at [email protected].

Never Send Money or Share Financial Information with other Members

• Never send money or goods to other Cougar Life members, regardless of the situation. 
• Make sure to report any members asking you to send money, goods, or financial information.  (Click on the three dots in the top right corner of their profile, then click on “Report.”)
• Requesting money, goods, and financial information is a violation of our Terms and Conditions. 
• Meeting someone new can be an exhilarating experience, but it is important to use your judgment when it comes to connecting with new members and sharing your personal information.

Report All Suspicious and Offensive Behavior

Together, let’s keep the Cougar Life Community safe, secure, and discreet. If you see a member breaking the Cougar Life Code of Conduct, please do not hesitate to report their profile. Some examples of behavior that go against our Code of Conduct are:

• Solicitation/Prostitution
• Spamming
• Stalking or harassment, 
• Impersonating any person or entity 
• Participating in any illegal activity

To report suspicious or offensive behavior, go to the member’s profile, click on the three dots in the top right-hand corner of the member’s profile, and click on “Report.” 

PLEASE NOTE: WE DO NOT PERFORM CRIMINAL BACKGROUND SCREENINGS.