Debo, yes, never give out the personal information. This is often a scam to obtain enough information to complete identity theft. People can get basic information from social media (facebook, twitter) which is enough to get them started and given that basic info is correct, people don't think twice. I get a lot of these as a lawyer as I have a public email. I recommend investing in a good spyware program, which detects emails coming from out of country. While sometimes my friends end up in the spam filter, I just check that every couple of weeks.
This is why if anyone from here looks to "friend" me on facebook, you need to send me a message first to confirm you are part of the OCF family as I have the highest security settings.