Nah, I've met a few internet friends, and my first gf and a one night stand friend I both initially met online. Just don't drive 9 hours to the middle of nowhere to do it. He is lucky that is all that happened, and that he didn't get mugged or murdered or raped too.
Nah, it works sometimes. That's how I met my current girlfriend. Ross (esaul) is right though, he's just lucky they were only playing a hoax and not stringing him along for something else. I seem to remember a story along those lines on a current affairs show (ugh) over here a while back, only involving a teenage girl.