Background screening
We do not run criminal background checks. You should know that before you meet anyone.
Some dating services advertise criminal screening. SHY does not perform it, and we would rather say so plainly than let an absence be mistaken for a promise.
SHY DOES NOT CONDUCT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND SCREENINGS ON ITS MEMBERS. Disclosure provided under N.J.S.A. 56:8-169 et seq., 815 ILCS 518/15, and Tex. Bus. & Com. Code ch. 106.
What this means in practice
An account on SHY is not a safety credential.
- We do not check criminal records. We do not search sex-offender registries, court records, or arrest records, and we do not contract a screening provider to do it for us.
- Nobody here has been cleared. The presence of an account carries no finding about that person's history, because no such finding was ever made.
- A screening would not be a guarantee either. Services that do screen still miss records that were never filed, were sealed, or exist in another jurisdiction. Treat any dating service's screening claim as partial.
What we actually do
Verification answers one narrow question.
SHY offers live-capture photo verification. It is designed to establish that the person using an account matches the photos on it — that the profile is not built from someone else's pictures.
- A verified badge means the photos are likely of that person. That is the whole claim.
- It does not establish identity, age, character, or criminal history. A real person can still be dangerous, and verification cannot see that.
- It is not a substitute for meeting carefully. Meet in public, tell someone where you are going, arrange your own travel, and leave whenever you want to.
Decide as if no screening exists, because none does. The precautions on our Safety page are written for that reality, not as an extra layer on top of a check we do not run.
Something feels wrong
Report it, even if you are not sure.
Use Report on any profile or conversation, or email the safety team directly. You do not need proof to raise a concern.