over the internet

i received a message in my friendster account from a guy i don't know. he was asking if i wanted to chat and if i did, he wanted to get my messenger id. i am thinking it must be because we were both located in cincinnati or because he used to work for my previous company as well (or at least, that's what was written in his profile). multiple times i have written a response but ended up not sending those at all. the truth is, i am tempted to give him my yahoo id. it's possible that i may actually find a friend here that is not at all connected to my work. however, the paranoid side of me is the more powerful voice inside my head. since we don't have a common friend, it's much more difficult for me to throw caution to the wind. so how do you actually reconcile trusting people and being cautious? it's kind of sad to realize that because of the state of the world we live in, sometimes making friends is harder than it seems to be.