Scammers Are Creating Fake Facebook Pages Of Deceased People To Dupe Their Loved Ones Through Bogus Funeral Livestreams

Playing With Emotions and Scamming Citizens

The Better Business Bureau has warned citizens about a new Facebook scam that is targeting people who have recently lost a loved one. In the new scam, the identity of the deceased is used to create a fake Facebook page. Scamsters set up fake paid funeral liestreams to scam loved ones or friends of the deceased. Several residents have complained about the scam to the Regional Director for the Quincy Better Business Bureau, per a WGEM report.

What is the Face Facebook Funeral Livestream Scam?

In the new scam circling Quincy, residents received friend requests from the fake accounts of deceased people or their families. These pages claimed to have the official live stream for the funeral of the deceased person.

Don O’Brien, the Regional Director for the Quincy Better Business Bureau, himself received one such fake request. “We have many thousands of scams that are reported each year and this is one that was new to me,” O’Brien said in the WPEG report.

O’Brien further added that in his investigation, he found that in these cases the live stream link that was posted by the imposters required a paid membership to view the funeral. That is the tactic that the fraudsters use to steal the victims’ sensitive card information.

How to spot a fake funeral livestream scam?

In the report, the Funeral director of the O’Donnell-Cookson Life Celebration Home and the James O’Donnell Funeral Home, Jimmy O’Donnell said that it is highly unlikely for funeral homes to host livestreams of services. It is even stranger that these live streams will require a paid membership to view.

“Your funeral director is never going to ask you specifically for your email or credit card or address information to simply watch a service,” O’Donnell said in the report. He further added that there would be no fee associated with such events in case they are real.

O’Donnell suggests that in case there is doubt about such events, people should freely contact the Funeral Director to check or receive the legitimate link.

Further, the Better Business Bureau suggests that people should research the websites asking for membership thoroughly before making any payments. The company’s BBB Business Profile should also be checked at BBB.org or by calling 888-996-3887.

It is also recommended to use a credit card while making suspicious payments, as they come with better security and it is easier to challenge the payment after it is made. Facebook users should be careful before clicking any strange links included in social media posts or unsolicited emails.

The website’s history should be checked before clicking and the URL of the websites need to be checked as well. The web addresses that end with unfamiliar extensions like .xyz, should not be trusted at all.

The site’s security settings should also be checked. One way to do it is to carefully check the URL which should start with “https://.” Users should also look for a small, closed lock at the address bar or at the right-hand corner of the address to be completely sure.

Those who suspect that they have come across a Facebook funeral livestream scam must report it to the BBB Scam Tracker, the official funeral home handling arrangements and they should also report the post to the social media website where it appeared.