There are several steps to help limit the risks of being lured into traps set by these Internet chicaners. Never agree to meet anyone alone. Insist a friend accompany you even if you feel comfortable talking with this chatter. A chat room get together is a good place to meet chatters. I know of a few chat rooms that have an annual get together in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. As a general rule these chatters are honest friendly people and much like you, they want to meet the people in person they chat with almost daily.
I recalled a situation not too long ago where a lady came into a chat room I happened to be in at the time. She had last talked to her daughter on the Internet around 4 pm. It was now 8 pm and her daughter had not made it home from work. Her daughter only lived a few miles from where she worked. I never heard if she located her daughter. I wonder if her daughter's disappearance had anything to do with her talking on the Internet.
I have heard of several cases where people have disappeared after talking with someone on the Internet. No one is 100% safe from anyone who plans abduction via the Internet. They are such smooth talkers and can easily make you believe a lie. This is especially true of young children and teenagers.
There is a certain mystique about a chat room. You can pretend to be someone else if you wish. Perhaps it's because no one knows your true identity and you can live in a dream world fantasy if you choose. Most adults who chat are sincere and are pretty much the same in every day life as what they appear to be in chat. But beware the stalker. This dangerous menace to society has now entered the world of the Internet. Here is one of the newest scams to hit the Internet since I started writing this novel. It is a Nigerian scam. A man meets a divorcee or recent widow in a chat room and sweet talks her into believing he is madly in love with her. He is very wealthy and wants to share his wealth with her. He tells the lady he is coming to the United States to meet her and he really wants her to be a part of his life. A few days later the lady gets an email telling her the man she is expecting has been killed in an automobile accident on his way to the airport. A little while later she receives an email allegedly from the man's family asking for money to help bury him. He has money in the bank and it will take a few weeks to get it transferred to the next of kin. The family will reimburse her double at that time for helping them in their time of sorrow.