Fake funeral livestream scams are duping loved ones on Facebook
Scammers are creating fake funeral livestreams on Facebook, targeting grieving friends and family members, according to a 404 Media investigation. These scams involve stealing information about real deceased individuals from legitimate funeral service pages and creating copycat announcements. Victims are then directed to sites that ask for their credit card information, for supposedly watching their loved one's funeral. One affected victim called the scam "disgusting" and said it caused "panic on the day where you shouldn't be thinking of that."
How do the scams work?
In one case reported by 404 Media, a Facebook post urged visitors to visit a tinyurl link. The link then jumped to a website that claimed to host a livestream of the deceased's funeral service. It had a video player which took a few seconds to load. There was a "WATCH LIVE NOW" button underneath the player. Clicking such a link would direct visitors to enter their credit card information. At this point, scammers would extract details from unsuspecting victims.
Victims were sent friend requests
On the day of the real funeral, a relative of the deceased received a call from his sister. She claimed the Facebook account, which pointed visitors to a supposed livestream of the service, had sent friend requests to her family. Since there was supposed to be a real stream of the event too, many people fell for the scam.
Impact on victims and their families
The emotional impact on families is immense, as they must deal with these fraudulent activities while mourning their loved ones. To avoid falling prey to such scams, Facebook users should exercise caution when encountering funeral livestream announcements on the platform. It's crucial to verify the authenticity of these announcements by cross-referencing with official funeral service pages or reaching out to family members directly. Also, legitimate funeral services typically don't require credit card details to watch.
What did Meta say?
On being asked about fake funeral services on Facebook, Meta said "We don't allow this content on our platforms." The firm also claimed it encourages users to report such content to the company as well as to the police. Despite Meta's claims, hundreds of such scam pages seem to be active on Facebook in countries like the US, UK, Ireland, and Australia.
