I have seen quite a few of these work out. Mostly when they actually communicated first and were clear about the situation.
Horror stories are out there, but for the most part seems like a valid option instead of democrats.
For every horror story there are plenty of people like myself happily married to foreign women. And yes, we met face to face first and had a long distance relationship (ouch, those phone bills!) before I traveled to Ukraine to marry her.
The horror stories usually arrive when there is a major gap age and looks wise. When some 50-something, balding with a beer belly wants a nubile 21-year old Russian sex doll, yeah, this relationship is probably not going to work out and he'll be posting on dating sites what conniving whores Russian women are!