Obvious scam bullshit, so please report anyone sending you anything similar.
I agree with you that, we shouldn't comply with messages of this nature as it's often scam oriented and to note, Mrs. Elizabeth Edward should have a real friend, cousin, uncle or relatives in what ever category that she could trust or even from the husband's side to handle such task for her, why won't she have the time to use that option than spending time over the web to confuse in a total stranger on financial affairs... It sounds phishy right? Obviously a cheap scam technique.
Again, not replying to private messages from strangers on the forum is kind of not idea for me. For a fact, we are all anonymous to ourselves or at least 90% are though, not a proven statistics. We might be familiar with a few names based on how active the user are but we still remain anonymous and at times, you just might choose to converse with another familiar either because, you feel the user is the best to aid you in answering a particular question or recommend something for you. Not really asking you for financial aiding or trying to divert you to some place or platform. Else, I don't see anything wrong in replying PM from strangers but, the issue of complying and clicking links is very much up to you.