How to Report Harassment or a Suspicious Dating Profile

Published 16 October 2026

Most people block and move on. It is the understandable response: the unpleasantness stops, and reporting feels like effort spent on someone who has already cost you enough attention. The problem is that blocking only removes the account from your view. It is still there, still messaging other people, and the next person it reaches has none of the information you have. Reporting is the step that does something about that, and it takes about a minute. This page is part of our dating safety advice.

You Do Not Need to Be Certain

The most common reason people do not report is not knowing whether they are right. That is not the standard. A report is a flag for review, not an accusation that has to be proved, and moderation teams work from patterns: one uncertain report is a data point, and several about the same account are a case.

If something felt wrong enough that you stopped replying, that is enough reason to report. Nobody is penalised because a reviewed account turned out to be fine.

Screenshot Before You Block

This is the one step with an irreversible deadline, so it comes first.

On most platforms, blocking removes your access to the conversation. If you block first and decide to report afterwards, you may find that the evidence you wanted to attach is no longer visible to you.

Capture, in this order:

The profile itself — the photographs, the bio, the username, and whatever identifier the platform shows.
The messages, including the ordinary ones before and after. Context is what makes a report usable.
Anything financial: account names, bank details, wallet addresses, payment links.
Any other handle, number or app they asked you to move to.
The dates, which are usually visible in the screenshots themselves.

Keep these somewhere outside the app. If this ever goes further than a platform report, they are the record.

Report, Block, or Both

They do different jobs and are not alternatives.

Report sends the account to moderation. It affects what happens to other people. It does not necessarily stop the account contacting you in the meantime.
Block stops contact with you immediately. It does nothing for anyone else.
Both is almost always right: screenshot, report, then block.

If you are worried that reporting will provoke a reaction, note that reports are not shown to the person reported. Blocking afterwards closes the channel regardless.

What Is Worth Reporting

Not only the obvious cases.

Requests for money, in any form, including investments, gift cards and cryptocurrency. See what to do when someone you met online asks for money.
Photographs that are not theirs, where a reverse image search has found them elsewhere.
A story that does not hold together — changing job, location, age or marital status.
Immediate pressure to move to another app, especially in the first few messages.
Sexual content you did not ask for, including unsolicited images.
Persistent contact after you have asked them to stop, or after no reply.
Threats, intimidation or abuse, including anything racist, homophobic or otherwise targeted.
Threats to share private images or messages.
Any suggestion that the person is underage, or any content involving a minor. Report this and stop engaging entirely.
Links you were sent to a site, a trading platform or a verification service.

What Moderation Can and Cannot Do

Worth setting expectations honestly, because unrealistic ones are part of why people stop reporting.

A platform can review an account, remove it, restrict it, act on a pattern of reports, and keep records relevant to a wider investigation.

A platform cannot tell you what it decided about another member — that is their data, not yours — recover money you have sent, or act as a police force. It cannot usually act on something that happened entirely on another app, although a report that a profile here is being used to move people elsewhere is still useful.

You will often not hear an outcome. That does not mean nothing happened. Our report a profile or safety concern page sets out what a report does on ExpatFlirt and what information helps.

How to Write a Report That Gets Acted On

Short, factual and specific beats long and angry. The reviewer has not read the conversation.

Pick the closest category the form offers, rather than the one that feels most serious.
Say what happened in one or two sentences. What they asked for, what they sent, what they did after you said no.
Give dates and quote exactly where you can.
Attach the screenshots if the form allows it.
Name the pattern if you recognise it, but do not speculate about who they are.
Leave out your feelings about it, however justified. It is not that they do not matter; it is that they do not help a reviewer decide.

Harassment Specifically

A few things are worth saying plainly.

You do not owe anyone a reply, a reason, or a polite exit. Not answering is a complete response. If someone continues after you have stopped, that is on them.

Do not argue with it. Engagement is usually what is being sought, and a reply — including a sharp one — tends to extend the exchange rather than end it. Screenshot, report, block.

If harassment moves off the platform, or if it involves threats to you or anyone else, it stops being a moderation matter. Keep everything and contact your local police or the relevant national authority. Europol maintains a directory of national reporting routes for online crime (Europol, Report cybercrime online, consulted 16 October 2026). If there is any immediate danger, use your local emergency number — and if you have recently moved, make sure you know what that number is.

If Private Images Are Involved

If someone threatens to share intimate images or messages unless you pay or comply: do not pay and do not comply. It does not end there and generally produces further demands.

Keep the evidence, report the account to the platform, block, and contact your local police or the relevant national authority. This is a crime. Tell someone you trust, and look for a support organisation in your country — several run confidential helplines specifically for this, and they deal with it constantly. None of it is your fault, and the people who do this depend on you believing otherwise.

Reporting Beyond the Platform

Go further than a platform report when money has changed hands, when there are threats, when images are being used against you, or when any minor is involved.

Which authority handles it depends entirely on where you live, and after a move that is rarely obvious — the body that deals with online fraud in your new country may be nothing like the one in your old one. Check locally rather than assuming, start with your local police or national fraud reporting service, and keep the reference number you are given. If a payment is involved, contact your bank at the same time rather than afterwards, because that is the only route with a real time limit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I block or report first?

Screenshot, then report, then block. Blocking usually removes your access to the conversation, so anything you have not captured by then may be gone when you come to fill in the report.

Do I need proof before I report a profile?

No. A report is a flag for review, not an accusation you have to prove. Moderation works from patterns, so an uncertain report still contributes. If something felt wrong enough to stop you replying, report it.

Will the person know I reported them?

Reports are not shown to the person reported. If you are concerned about a reaction, block after reporting, which closes the channel regardless.

Will I be told what happened to the account?

Usually not, and not in detail. What a platform decides about another member is their data rather than yours. No news does not mean no action.

What if the harassment moved to another app?

Report it here anyway if the contact began on this platform, because a profile being used to move people elsewhere is itself worth flagging. For what happens on the other app, use that app's reporting tools, and go to your local police or national authority if there are threats.

When should I go to the police rather than the platform?

When money has changed hands, when you are threatened, when private images are being used against you, or when any minor is involved. Do both: report to the platform so the account can be removed, and to the authority that handles it where you live.