craig, very good advice, as usual. Good to be careful, but no need to be paranoid. Good things can happen too!
As has been said, it works great if both parties are honest. Freedom96 and I met online as well. We shared lots of emails, and also did the endless hours on the phone thing before we met in person. Neither of us was looking for a relationship, so we didn't feel the need to present ourselves as anything different than who we were. So we have now been married 2.5 years and have a beautiful baby. Well worth the long distance romance, ( I relocated) and without the internet, we would never have met.