Beware: Your knight in shining armour might be out to get you!

We’ve all been advised at some point in our lives to choose our company wisely. Never in time has it held more importance than today, when you can’t even trust your own blood.

Javaid Choudhary’s column, some time ago, titled “Save your children” in the Daily Express makes for a chilling read in this regard as he meticulously outlines how certain gangs are operating in the country. They settle in posh areas, admit their children to a pristine private school and the next thing you know, your child has a new best friend that he can’t stop raving about.

Soon enough, as this friendship progresses to a point of absolute trust, your child disappears and this new best friend’s influential family helps you rescue him offering some token money for the grand contribution of the ransom. While this example and such incidents are of a very grave nature, equally scary are instances of being introduced to potential partners that you may have no link to.

We have all heard tales of sordid marriages and equally muddy divorces, but in a day and age when society had opened up to dangerous proportions and there exists a relatively free intermingling of the sexes, how does one safeguard oneself?

Say, you, a young twenty something single woman are introduced to a seemingly suave young man through a friend who claims to have known him since their school days. Naturally, you trust that this friend wouldn’t set you up with someone with a worrying past.

Wrong.

Their personal history may have run two decades, but how often have they been in touch in that long span?

Be wary of these knights in shining armour that suddenly descend from nowhere to sweep you off your feet. Living in the Facebook age means you can unearth every possible information about this new friend simply by utilising some basic investigative journalism skills and checking out common friends. Check with former employees, partners, spouses and family members if you can to verify.

The bitter truth is that honesty and trust are the scarcest values in town, bar no efforts to unearthing every information possible when you open your home or yourself to someone.

Read more by Hani here, or follow her on Twitter @taha_hani