TO MEET OR NOT TO MEET-safe or sorry?

The Blonde Bombshell is back, and missed you all. As you see from the title, the subject is TO MEET OR NOT TO MEET someone you talk to online. Is it safe? You tell me. The stories i've heard from friends and read in the paper tell me no. My concerns are, did the guy send the real picture or no, (women also), when you meet a person you've talked to what if he isn't at all what his/her picture lools like? Do you run, pretend it's ok they lied to you? There is so much to find out before you take that step to meet a stranger from online, be it male or female.
The last story I read was a woman that agreed to meet a guy she met online, she set him up to be beat up and robbed, so it happens to guys as well as us women. I talked to a guy for a while on the phone, I was ready to finally meet him, when he called and asked me to borrow 5 thousand, for his rent, child support, etc. Of course that turned me right off, and no, I didn't meet him.
Would love to hear your story , was your meeting good or bad? I also have guys ask me to marry them , this is guys i've never met face to face.
There are surprises if you date off of aol. but there are set backs also, so i've learned, from dating a guy I met at the gym, or when I was out dancing, even rock climbing.
So how do we choose guys and girls who we date, I was told online guys are looking for one nighters, is that true guys? I was also told by a male friend that he met a girl, and she stole his credit cards, so he said never again .
The truth being this blonde bombshell will think twice about where , when, and who she dates, and how we meet. Maybe someday the right guy (which I thought I found), but he disappeared,
but maybe someday be it aol, or at the lounge or gym, the right guy will make me feel safe enough to have lunch with him no matter how we meet.
Let me know your zingers, your good meets, and your bad meets from the computer you sit at every day.
The blonde bombshell