Just because they can, doesn’t mean they should. The aliens they’ll attract likely won’t be cute little fuzzy creatures who wouldn’t harm a fly.
You know how aliens are always depicted in fiction as being superior to humans in every way, right? Harry Turtledove wrote a terrific short story that challenged that assumption. The aliens that try to invade Earth are great at high-speed interstellar travel and are motivated by conquest but fight on the ground with Napoleonic-era technology, which is more than sufficient for most places that they conquer. The National Guard shows up with M-16s and a few Bradleys and eats them for lunch.
If ET came here, the ONLY assumption that we could safely make is that they're good at fast space travel. Is caution warranted? Absolutely yes. It is already out of our hands no matter what SETI does? Probably.