An arrest in Butler this week drives home the point that one should be careful when getting together with people one meets online.

Butler police arrested a 22-year-old McKees Rocks man after he allegedly threatened a 22-year-old woman at her apartment with a stolen and loaded pistol. The man, who has a felony criminal record that prohibits him from possessing firearms, now faces five more felony counts stemming from the incident.

A neighbor called for help after the woman yelled out in alarm, saying that a man was refusing to leave her apartment and, shortly thereafter, a second caller reported that the man was waving a gun and threatening to kill the woman.

According to court documents, the pair had met on Facebook and recently began dating.

Statistics from the online dating website eHarmony indicate that online dating is the most prevalent means of bringing people together romantically. A total of 40 million Americans use online dating websites, according to eHarmony, and 27 percent of young adults use such sites. In recent years, there has been a 6 percent increase for persons aged 55 to 64 years using these sites. DatingAdvice.com notes that Match.com, the most popular dating site, has 23.5 million users, while eHarmony is responsible for 4 percent of U.S. marriages. More than 7,500 dating sites exist worldwide and approximately 49 million people have tried online dating, according to the Statistic Brain Research Institute.

Reputable matching services have built-in safeguards and guidelines intended to let individuals get to know each other and reveal their own identity gradually — and to bow out gracefully and noncommittally. But the very nature of romance entails a risk — a vulnerable moment when more might be taken than has been offered.

The statistics reflect this darker reality, too, showing that everyone from sex offenders to scammers make up a small but frightening percentage of those using online dating sites. In 2016, the UK’s National Crime Agency noted that the number of rapes related to online dating had skyrocketed, and a horrific story that same year broke in Seattle, where a mother of three was murdered by a man she met online.

No, these statistics and incidents should not be an incentive to delete your online dating profile and avoid such sites. But the sites’ users should be cautious when making acquaintance with someone whom they’ve been getting to know online.

Do some fact checking online about the person who you plan to meet and — if it makes you feel safer — order a background check. Upon your first meeting, don’t divulge too much personal information and insist on meeting in a public place. Tell your family and friends about the person you met online — perhaps, they could detect red flags you might have missed. If someone you’ve met online sounds too good to be true, that’s probably the case.

We currently don’t know the details of the Butler case. And we know that it’s difficult to get a good sense of a person’s true nature when the majority of one’s conversation with them is on a computer screen. But this week’s arrest is a reminder that it’s well worth doing your homework before spending time in person with someone you’ve previously only known online.