A link to a famous person’s Wikipedia page means nothing

This is a common scam: The scammer pretends to be a famous person, and links to the bio or a story about that person. That means nothing. A person wants to share some gold with you, and links to a BBC story about a battle in Iraq or Afghanistan. That means nothing. A person claims to be one of the members of the wealthy family that owns Wal-Mart, with links to a Wikipedia page. That means nothing.

Also look at the “from” email address and the email address indicated in the message. First of all, they’re nothing alike. Second, neither address seems like it would belong to the real Alice Walton. And third… why would you be bcc’d on a message like this?

Don’t be fooled by such messages — they’re scams. Every last one of them.

From: “Alice Walton” email hidden; JavaScript is required

Subject: YOUR GIFT

To: email hidden; JavaScript is required

Reply-To: email hidden; JavaScript is required

I, Alice Walton authenticate this email, you can read about me on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Walton  ,

I write to you because I intend to give to you a portion of my Net-worth which I have been banking. I want to cede it out as gift, hoping it would be of help to you and others too. Respond to this email: email hidden; JavaScript is required

With joy,

Alice Walton