Post by Graveyardbride on Aug 12, 2023 20:38:18 GMT -5
Funeral Scammers Prey on the Recently Bereaved
One of the latest scams targets the recently bereaved. When a loved one dies, these people, pretending to be the funeral home, call family members demanding they make an immediate payment or the funeral will be canceled.
Lisa Ann Motto, whose husband of 22 years died in July, received such a call. “He said I needed to make a deposit for insurance purposes, and it was urgent,” she told a reporter. He then asked that she send $5,000 through Zelle or Apple Pay. When her efforts failed, he instructed her to send the money via PayPal. Fortunately for Mrs. Motto, her son overheard the second conversation and instructed her to hang up. “They just catch you at such a weak moment. There’s a special place in hell for people like that,” she added.
Hope Etherton, a funeral director in Rainsville, Alabama, was speaking with a client who received a call from a man claiming to be Blake Chandler, another funeral director at Rainsville Funeral Home and Ms. Etherton’s brother. The client handed her the phone. “I let him know who I was and that Blake was my brother,” Ms. Etherton said. “Once I told him that, he hung up. I’m just glad the family was here when it happened.”
“If there was a Scammers Hall of Shame, this one would make the Top 10 List, without question,” an FTC (Federal Trade Commission) spokesperson said.
The FTC recommends those involved in making funeral arrangements resist requests to act immediately. Honest businesses will give you time to make a decision. Anyone who pressures you to pay or requests personal information is a scammer.
If you do receive such a call, contact the funeral home immediately using a phone number from the company’s website, or one provided on a business card or other document from the funeral home, not one provided by the scammer.
What scammers want is your money and they instruct their targets to pay in ways that are hard to trace or get your money back once you figure out you’ve been scammed. A good rule of thumb is to never pay with a wire transfer, cryptocurrency or a gift card.
Sources: Brie Stimson, Fox News, August 13, 2023, and The Federal Trade Commission.
