While online dating has its many benefits, it is best to exercise caution, just as well. A lot of Red Flags are waving menacingly in the field of Online Dating. Learn to recognize them before you are backed into waving your own white flag in surrender.

RED FLAG 1: Digging Too Deep
Your conversations on your first few encounters should be light and friendly. So if he or she starts digging deeper into your closet for private info, be very, very wary.

RED FLAG 2 : Phone Phobic
You've reached the stage where you exchange phone numbers but the strange thing is you can't contact your online sweetheart, ever. Or he or she sticks to the "Don't call me, I'll call you." Rule. There may be a situation you're not aware of especially when you're allowed to call -- but only at a certain schedule.

RED FLAG 3: Financial Favors
Since you're still dating online, don't entertain financial requests. Not until you share some oxygen... in the intimate sort of way. So if you're online beau starts asking for financial assistance, think twice!

RED FLAG 4: No Efforts
If you've stopped going out for your regular Happy Hour with your friends or foregone your favorite soap just to accommodate your online beau's availability, it could be a tell-tale sign of what's it like have an real live romance with him or her. Making all the effort to keep the relationship going may indicate that your partner is just playing games OR that he or she is TOO LAZY OR SELFISH for compromise (a required essential in any relationship, online or not). Talk to your online sweetie and ask him or her to meet you halfway. If he can't make the time, dump him.

RED FLAG 5 Insanely Insecure RED FLAG 5 Insanely Insecure
If your online partner is constantly suspicious of your motives and has doubts about you and what you do offline, this may be an indication of a difficult future together. Find someone who's more open-minded and accepting.

RED FLAG 6: Marry Me Now!
As your online interlude becomes more serious, your online beau will become more eager to get hitched. It is always best to go out on real dates to know each other before taking that dramatic leap into forever. Eagerness to get married too soon could be a means of escape for your partner from his or her own obligations. Don't be saddled with a person who's got heavy emotional baggage or is thinking of living off you.

Before you become paranoid and start seeing red every time someone flirts with you online, remember that EVERY DATING RELATIONSHIP has RED FLAGS. It's just a matter of spotting them before it's too late.