Funeral directors around Australia are grappling with online scammers homing in on funeral service live streams and attempting to swindle vulnerable mourners.
In recent weeks, members of Australia’s Greek and wider community have received Facebook friend requests purporting to offer the live streaming of funerals for people who have passed away. But the link on the scam page requests that you register or provide credit card information to view the live stream.
One example which drew the anger of the community was a page that falsely claimed to live stream the funeral of Father Nicholas Bozikis on Wednesday, February 21.
In response to the growing number of scams, Acropolis Funeral Services issued a statement encouraging people to ignore the Facebook accounts.
“If you are being asked by a third party to register or pay to see a live streamed service, please do not acknowledge this as this is most likely a scam,” the statement reads.
“Acropolis Funeral Services will never ask for you to register or pay to see a service live streamed.”
Funeral homes began live streaming services more frequently during the COVID-19 lockdowns to allow mourners to dial in remotely and the trend has continued.
Acropolis Funerals Services are now encouraging people to clarify the legitimacy of the Facebook accounts “via direct family members or our office.”
The Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre is here to help all Australians affected by cyber incidents. Call the hotline 24/7 on 1300 CYBER1 (1300 292 371) if you need help or go to ReportCyber.
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