How to Report Someone on Plenty of Fish

From your chat with the person or from their page, tap the icon of a shield with a heart. That opens the Safety Toolbox, where you tap Report. A human moderator reviews what you send, and the person you report is never told who reported them. POF may then warn, suspend or ban the account, and it does not tell you which of those it chose.

1. Open the chat with the person, or open their profile.
2. Tap the shield with a heart icon to open the Safety Toolbox.
3. Tap Report.

You can start from either place, so report from wherever you ran into the problem. If it was something she said, the chat is the natural place. If it was her photos or what her profile claims, go through the profile.

POF says reports are reviewed by a human moderator. That is worth keeping in mind while you write one.

A person with a queue of reports in front of them can act on specifics. "This account asked me to buy a gift card on our third day of talking" gives them something to check. "She was weird" gives them nothing. So say what happened, in plain words, in the order it happened. If there was a particular message that crossed the line, say what it said.

You do not need to argue your case or pad it out. One clear paragraph of facts is more useful to a moderator than a long complaint.

POF never tells the reported member who reported them. It also does not tell you what it decided. It may warn the member, suspend the account, or ban it, and you will not be told which.

Both halves of that are deliberate, and both work in your favor.

The first means you can report without worrying about a reaction. The person will not get a message with your name on it.

The second means silence is not a sign that nothing happened. If the account is still visible a day later, that does not mean your report was ignored. The member may have been warned, or the review may still be under way. Report what you saw, then stop checking on it.

Report behavior that a moderator would want to know about, especially anything aimed at the next man as well as you.

• Any request for money: a fee, a flight, a phone bill, a gift card, crypto, or an "investment" she wants you to try.
• Photos that clearly belong to someone else, such as a model, an influencer, or a set that turns up under a different name.
• Threats, harassment, or messages that keep coming after you have said no.
• An account that pushes you off POF toward a link, another site or an app you have never heard of.
• Anything that makes you worried about your safety or someone else's.

Scams tend to run in the same order. First she is affectionate far too soon. Then there is always a reason the two of you cannot meet. Then a crisis turns up that only your money can fix. If you spot that sequence, report it even before the ask arrives.

Take screenshots of the messages and the profile before you do anything else.

A report tells the moderator what happened. Screenshots show them. And if you plan to block the person as well, POF deletes your chat history with them when you block, so the screenshots are the only record you will have. Capture first, report second, block last.

These are three different tools, and it helps to pick the right one.

Reporting is for behavior that should reach a moderator: scams, fakes, threats and harassment. Blocking is for anyone you never want to hear from again, whether or not they did something reportable. You can do both.

Moving on is for everything else. A woman who goes quiet, says no to a drink, or answers in a single word has done nothing a moderator needs to see. She is simply not interested. Reporting her would only take a moderator's time away from the accounts that really are causing harm. Let that conversation go and give your attention to the ones that are warming up.

Do not reply to a scammer to tell them you have caught them, and do not try to get the last word with someone abusive. Each extra message gives them another chance to work on you or to twist what you said. Report, block if you want to, and close the chat.

Then get on with your week. a dating coach treats online dating as something you keep testing and adjusting, and a single bad account is just one data point in that. It says nothing about the women you have not met yet. Handle it in two minutes, then go back to the conversations that are heading toward a date.