Scammers targeting mourners who live-stream funerals

When a person clicks on the page for the funeral they wish to see, they are prompted to set up an account. This process involves providing credit card details. File photo

People are being warned to be careful when accessing live-streamed funerals as a new scam has emerged which is targeting mourners.

Websites are being set up which claim to offer a live stream of a particular funeral. To appear legitimate, they take the deceased person's information from their obituary listing, from RIP.ie, and will even take photos from the person's social media profile.

When a person clicks on the page for the funeral they wish to see, they are prompted to set up an account. This process involves providing credit card details.

It seems that there is no initial charge taken at the time of creating an account, according to Gerard Quinn. Speaking to The Opinion Line on Cork's 96FM, he said that the thieves will use the details at a later stage.

In particular, the scammers target funerals which feature in the media or are generating a lot of interest on social media. When people search the name of the person who has died or look for funeral details, the scam sites appear in the results.

As well as financial loss for the person who falls victim to the scam, it also causes additional distress to the family to discover that the loss of their loved one is being exploited.

The live-streaming of funeral masses became the norm during the covid-19 pandemic as restrictions meant people could not attend in person. Although this is no longer the case, watching funerals online has remained popular with older people, people who live abroad or who for other reasons are unable to attend in person.

People are being warned to only access live streams that have been set up by the church or where the details are included in the obituary on RIP.ie. If you are uncertain about the legitimacy of a livestream, it is best to contact the relevant funeral director to verify before logging in.

No fees

A church will never request money to access their footage and, in cases where a family may employ the services of a videographer, they are the ones who will pay the fee not those who tune in.

Warning the public to remain vigilant, Mr Quinn said: "There is no reason why anyone should ever have to pay any fee to watch the live-stream of a funeral. And the only time it would ever be restricted is if the family wanted privacy or something like that."

It is not just funerals that these scammers are targeting, said Mr Quinn.

He revealed that another funeral director's wedding anniversary was used for a scam recently. A false Facebook post was set up for people to watch the celebrations even though no such public celebration had ever been planned.