Remove “Elon Musk – Donation From Change” scam email

The “Elon Musk – Donation From Change” scam email claims that users are eligible to claim $1 million from Elon Musk. The email is a 100% scam and has two purposes, your personal information and your money. If you receive this email, pay no attention to its contents and just remove “Elon Musk – Donation From Change” scam email from your inbox.

 

 

This email is a great example of a scam email that promises users outrageous sums of money. Such scams have been around since the 18th century when scammers used to ask people to give money to help supposed imprisoned rich people be smuggled out of prisons. In exchange, they were promised large sums of money.

This particular scam email claims that the recipient is eligible to receive $1 million as part of Elon Musk’s campaign for the 2024 US Presidential Election. Despite the election having ended, the email claims that the money is still being given away.

While the email is very obviously a scam, there is one thing that could give it credibility in the eyes of potential victims. Elon Musk did do a sweepstake of sorts during the election period. While winners were predetermined, it has been reported that money was given away to certain people. However, this email has nothing to do with that. Unfortunately, users who want to find more information when they receive this email will encounter news reports saying Elon Musk did actually do this type of thing, which could lead to them being scammed.

The full text from “Elon Musk – Donation From Change” scam email is below:

Subject: Zuschuss von Elon Musk.

Hallo,

Ich wende mich von Donation For Change an Sie. Sie haben Anspruch auf 1.000.000,00 $ von Elon Musk.

Wir wurden ausgewählt, um eine Liste von Überweisungen von X Company abzuwickeln, die durch eine großzügige Spende von Elon Musk im Rahmen seines anhaltenden Engagements für den Sieg bei den US-Wahlen ermöglicht wurde.
—

Hello,

I am reaching out to you from Donation For Change. You are eligible to claim $1,000,000.00 from Elon Musk.

We have been selected to process a list of transfer from X Company, made possible by a generous contribution from Elon Musk as part of his ongoing commitment to Giving for victory at the USA Election. —

Stephan Rawlins
Donation For Change
A legacy of generosity.

When users interact with scammers and respond to their scam emails, they often end up being asked for an extensive amount of personal information. This information gathering happens gradually. Initially, scammers may request basic details such as full name, phone number, and home address. As the interaction continues, they typically escalate their requests to include even more sensitive information. If scammers identify someone as a potential target, they often work to build trust to make the victim more vulnerable to their tactics. These tactics have proven to be effective, judging by the thousands of victims who lose money to scams every year.

Once scammers successfully acquire personal information, they usually sell it to other criminals. This data is highly sought after because it enables them to orchestrate more sophisticated and targeted attacks. Victims are much more likely to respond positively when approached by someone who knows their name and other personal details. Personal data increases the chances of the scam succeeding quite significantly.

While obtaining personal information is a key goal, the primary aim of these scam emails is to trick users into sending money. Initially, the emails will not mention money, but as the correspondence continues, victims will eventually be prompted to send funds. Scammers invent various reasons for the urgent need for money, such as claiming a problem with a transaction that requires immediate fixing. Though the reasoning is usually very nonsensical, if trust has been established, the recipient is more likely to comply.

It goes without saying that it’s important to stay cautious with all emails that promise money, especially those suggesting outrageous sums, such as $1 million. Just a cursory glance at such emails is often enough to identify them as scams, given their absurdity.

These email scams have been prevalent for decades, and it can be surprising that people still fall for them. However, the low effort and minimal resources required for these campaigns mean that malicious groups can easily run them alongside other illegal activities.

Why did you receive a scam email?

You may receive a scam email simply because you’re unlucky. However, in most cases, a scam/malicious email in your inbox means your email address has been leaked. Unfortunately, when you sign up for a service and provide your personal information, there’s always a chance that it could be leaked. Many platforms also have poor security, which means a cyberattack would result in stolen personal information. This information is often sold on various hacker forums so malicious actors can purchase it and use it for their own purposes. The information is necessary to carry out more sophisticated scams, usually ones that target specific targets. Users can check haveibeenpwned to see if their email address has been part of a data breach.

Unfortunately, even if users know that their data has been leaked, there’s not much they can do besides be very cautious about any unsolicited contact, whether by phone or email.