Funeral celebrant, Craig Richardson, warns of increasing Facebook scams against grieving families and friends

A funeral celebrant has warned against scammers who are targeting grieving families with fake streams of funeral services.

Craig Richardson, of Bury St Edmunds, who has been in the funeral industry for nearly two decades, said he feels ‘sickened’ to hear stories of scammers exploiting mourners.

He said publicly available information found in newspapers and online obituaries was used to create fake Facebook accounts mimicking profiles of dead people.

These accounts are then used to invite friends and family members to watch a live stream of a funeral, which can be accessed via a link.

Those who click on the link are asked to share card details to view the service.

Mr Richardson said legitimate funeral live streams were always free to view and any service which asked for payment was likely a scam.

“It’s sickening,” he said.“These scammers are getting very sophisticated.

“To think that somebody who has lost somebody is being taken advantage of is just astronomical, but they (scammers) just don’t care about the people they’re scamming and the fact that they’re grieving.

“Family members who can’t attend a funeral service can now watch it online and these individuals are causing havoc across social media platforms, tricking people into giving money.”

“I had families say they had £15 taken, which is a small denomination, but once their card details have been taken the scammers are able to take a lot more out. It’s potentially unlimited.”

Mr Richardson said over the last couple of months he had seen an increase in scams around Suffolk.

He hopes by raising awareness, he can protect people from such fraudulent schemes.

He added that links to funeral livestreams should directly come from the family or funeral director and any suspicious activity should be reported to the platform’s administrators.