Expert warns over rise of ‘despicable’ Facebook funeral scams

Funerals are being used to scam people out of money (Picture: Getty/iStockphoto)

A ‘despicable’ and fast-spreading funeral scam is targeting mourners.

On Facebook, scammers are using photos from memorial pages and personal details to promote phishing links that supposedly direct mourners to a live stream of the funeral, the BBC reports.

But instead of being shown the funeral, they are being asked for credit card details to gain access – at which point the cybercriminals strike.

Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity expert at NordVPN, told Metro.co.uk how people can protect themselves from scams.

‘The biggest problem is that this is a phishing scam, and phishing scams work by people having trust in the message,’ he said.

‘The trust in this case comes from the feeling or the concept that nobody would be as low or despicable to use a funeral to get money out of people, and this is actually the main point that these scammers are using.

‘I see a lot of times with scammers that people say “How can somebody do this”?

‘Well, to them, you’re not a real person. You’re some bytes and digits half a planet away, so they don’t feel that there’s anything personal or human about it.’

Fraudsters are using Facebook for their funeral scams (Picture: Getty)

To avoid falling for such a scam, Mr Warmenhoven recommended anyone planning to attend a funeral virtually contacts the funeral director personally, if they cannot speak to a member of the family.

‘These live streams should always be free,’ he said. ‘Go to the funeral director, email them – because the big problem is simply you have no way of knowing if a random person posts something online that it’s really that person.

‘And the same goes as with every phishing message – the moment somebody asks you for money in an emotional or urgent situation, even if it feels counterintuitive, take a step back and think, is this really the proper moment or proper way to request money?

‘Besides that, there’s not actually a lot we can do.’

Funeral directors have also urged people to be on guard against scammers using genuine memorial posts.

Julie Whitehouse, from Darlington’s Whitehouse Funeral Services, told the BBC: ‘I don’t know how someone could go so low as to latch on to a funeral business to try and scam people. We only get one chance to do what it is we do and we want everything to be as it needs to be on that day.

‘Then, when the day of the funeral arrives, we’re running around trying to stop scammers when we should be making sure the cars are ready, the flowers are done and the family are supported.’

Like many companies, the firm offers bereaved people the opportunity to post a memorial image and message on Facebook in honour of lost loved ones.

Metro.co.uk has contacted Facebook for comment.