When cold emailing people I usually use "Hi (first name)" but when they are ~50 or older I feel Mr. is more appropriate (until they sign with their first name). However, "Hi Mr. (last name)" doesn't sound right and neither does "Dear (last name). Maybe "Hello (last name)?
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You could do a "Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening Mr. ______,"
You keep the formality of using the last name but not overly formal with the dear.
To answer your question, you can use "dear" and a last name as a salutation for a letter. I might look weird, but it's perfectly acceptable.
Depending on geography (e.g. continental Europe) I regard it safer / more humble to go with last name than first name unless they're your age / fresh out of (the same) college. I usually go for "Dear Mr. (last name)"
I've been emailed by Consuela at least twice before where the email started out with a "Hi Mr. (first name)". I would scratch the Hi/Hello. Just do "Mr. (last name)," or "Dear Mr. (last name)," if you want to be safe and formal. I always just went with the first name when I was networking within my bank since I felt I wasn't in grade school anymore.
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