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  Geebo 8:00 am on May 24, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: funeral, funeral expenses ( 9 ), impersonation scam ( 146 ), Scams ( 1,368 )   

  Is there any scam worse than a funeral scam? 

  

  By Greg Collier

  We’re never in a more vulnerable state than after the loss of a loved one. It’s even worse when the loss was unexpected. Nobody ever wants to arrange a funeral. Unfortunately, for most of us, it’s an inevitability. Whether it’s a spouse, a parent, or even a child, no one ever wants to have to discuss the financial details of having their loved one laid to rest. For scammers, this is just another opportunity for them to use emotional manipulation to trick grieving families into giving them money.

  In Georgia, a family almost lost $14,000 after falling prey to a funeral scammer. Some scammers keep an eye on the local obituaries. When someone passes and their obituary is published, scammers will pose as employees of the funeral home. The scammers will tell their victims there’s been an error in billing and the victim needs to pay more money. They’ll often show up at the victim’s home to collect the payment in cash or check.

  In the Georgia case, the suspects were arrested after they had difficulty trying to cash the check. In previous instances of this scam, we’ve seen scammers make it appear as if they were holding the remains of the deceased hostage until the victim made a payment.

  In order to protect yourself from such a scam, it is recommended to get an itemized bill from the funeral home that shows exactly how much services cost.

  Whenever you receive a call from someone requesting an unexpected payment, it is crucial to verify their claims. Do not automatically assume the call is authentic merely based on the displayed caller ID. Take the initiative to contact the business or agency directly, as they will provide guidance regarding the legitimacy of the caller’s demands.

   

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  Geebo 8:00 am on April 19, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: funeral, funeral expenses ( 9 ), impersonation scam ( 146 ), Scams ( 1,368 ), spoofed calls ( 8 )   

  Funeral home impersonation scam victimizes widow 

  

  By Greg Collier

  We’ve posted some absolutely heart-wrenching scams lately. One that stands out is the scam where con artists tried to collect imaginary tax debts from the families of the recently deceased. The one we’re about to discuss is much worse. This scam tries to take advantage of the grieving before a proper funeral has even occurred.

  A woman from the San Diego Metro Area recently lost her husband at a much too young age. The husband also left behind their two-year-old son. Before her husband could even be buried, she received a call from someone saying they were with the funeral home.

  The caller asked the woman for a $50 payment, claiming it was for some type of insurance in case a funeral home worker were to get injured. The phone number was spoofed, so it appeared the call was actually coming from the funeral home.

  The caller the started pressuring the woman to make a payment then and there over the phone. She was told that she couldn’t come down to the funeral home, she couldn’t pay in cash, and had to pay by credit card over the phone.

  After not giving the caller any money, they called back again to tell the grieving widow that they were refusing her service because she was so ‘rude’ to them. The panic she experienced must have been unimaginable while trying to figure out what to do after a funeral home has refused service.

  To her credit, she made some phone calls and determined the whole thing was a scam.

  When someone is grieving, they’re at their most vulnerable time of their life. As we know, scammers prefer to target the vulnerable, hoping that their victims are in such an emotional state they’re not thinking straight.

  Any time you receive a call from someone asking for any kind of surprise payment, verify their story. Don’t believe the call is legitimate just because the caller ID shows the correct number. Call the business or agency directly, and they’ll be able to advise you on the veracity of the caller’s request.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on October 28, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: charity scam ( 35 ), donations ( 4 ), funeral, Scams ( 1,368 )   

  Grim donation scam plagues intersections 

  

  By Greg Collier

  If you’ve driven any amount of time in the US, you’ve undoubtedly seen roadside donations taking place at a certain intersection. Often you’ll see the local fire department out collecting donations to help combat childhood diseases. They’re usually easy to identify since it’s clear who they are from their uniforms. Sometimes you might see a local civic group having a collection drive for any number of reasons. Again, they usually have plenty of signage identifying their organization and what they’re collecting for. But what if you saw a group of people collecting donations for a child’s funeral? Would you toss them a couple of bucks? If you answered yes, you may want to reconsider that donation.

  Recently, we’ve seen reports from various parts of the country where scammers are allegedly setting up shop in busy intersections. They’re said to be holding signs asking for donations to help pay for a teenage girl’s funeral. Or it could also be for the funeral of a young boy. However, the constant theme among all of the scams is the scammers have claimed they need money for a child’s funeral.

  And when we say, it’s happening in different parts of the country, we mean it. We have reports from Western Massachusetts, Southern California, Missouri, and another report from Southern California. While we don’t think the scammers are connected, it can’t be coincidence that these scams have sprung up all around the same time. It’s reminiscent of all the fake violinists who started appearing in parking lots across the country.

  Scammers will use every dirty trick in the book to either lull you into a sense of panic or pull on your heartstrings to try to get your money. And there’s nothing sadder than a funeral for a child to elicit a few donations on the street. However, a funeral scam is probably one of the lowest scams that someone can pull.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on August 26, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: covid testing ( 4 ), covid-19 ( 48 ), FEMA ( 10 ), funeral, gofundme ( 10 ), kentucky ( 6 ), medicare ( 17 ), Scams ( 1,368 )   

  Scam Round Up: Funeral scammers and more 

  

  By Greg Collier

  It’s been a while since we had a scam round up. To any new readers, this is where we bring you a number of short scam stories. These stories usually can either be told quickly or are reminders of past scams.

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  Earlier this month, we posted a story warning victims of floods to look out for scammers posing as FEMA agents. We also warned that scammers might also file FEMA claims in the victim’s name, while claiming any financial assistance for themselves.

  A report out of Kentucky, where floods recently devastated a portion of the state, says that flood victims are starting to see FEMA agents show up to their home when they never filed a claim. One victim had a FEMA claim filed under her maiden name and had FEMA agents show up to her home looking to make an inspection.

  If you think a FEMA claim might have been filed in your name, contact the FEMA helpline at 1-800-621-3362.

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  Speaking of government agencies, Medicare is probably the most targeted agency when it comes to scammers. What makes it worse, is that the scammers need someone enrolled in Medicare to scam the government.

  The Federal Trade Commission has issued a warning about the latest Medicare scam targeting recipients. Scammers are calling Medicare recipients and offering them free COVID-19 tests. Scammers actually want the recipient’s Medicare information, so they can fraudulently bill Medicare for a service or item the insured never receive.

  Please keep in mind that free COVID tests are easily available through the USPS website and are available to anyone.

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  Lastly, we think this story might just be the lowest we’ve ever seen scammers stoop, and that covers a lot of ground.

  Recently, a family from Illinois had to deal with the tragic loss of their 16-year-old son. When a tragedy like this makes the local news, it’s almost a guarantee that the GoFundMe scammers come out of the woodwork, and that’s exactly what happened. Fake GoFundMe pages started springing up claiming to be collecting for the family. But that wasn’t the worst thing that happened.

  According to the family, there were scammers who were physically at their son’s funeral collecting money from mourners, stating that they were collecting for the family. Thousands of dollars were allegedly collected by the scammers at the funeral.

  GoFundMe is actually pretty good when it comes to cracking down on scammers once notified. They’ve stated that the money given to the phony GFM pages has not been released to scammers and can be returned to anyone who donated.

  It’s a travesty that a family dealing with the loss of a child had to deal with such a disregard for human decency.

  Unfortunately, we don’t have a recommendation on how to keep scammers out of funeral. It seems like such a grim thought to think that a funeral might need security.

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