You can almost assume when you get something saying "forward this to everyone" that it's not real.
And I swear, when they write these things, they deliberately put in elements to give it away as fake. In this story, the woman lives in VA but works at a prison in LA? Come on. People do travel for certain jobs, but prison work? And then the lesson is to always know how much money you have on you? In order to avoid a rapist or serial killer?
There are two good bits of advice in this.:
1. It is wise to know how much money you have on you. One reason is so you don't get in a jam where your wallet is empty when you thought you had cash. Another is when you're buying something and the cashier doesn't give you enough change and you're counting to check. But there's no need to be obsessive about always knowing exactly which bills you have.
2. The real lesson of value here is that even approachable-looking, well-mannered people can be criminals. This isn't actually a new tactic; it's been around for centuries. I've personally experienced a couple of versions of this. So the lesson is to be on your guard.