The ‘heartless’ way scammers are targeting mourning Sydneysiders

Police are warning grieving family and friends about a disgraceful tactic used by scammers to fleece mourners of their personal details and cash. Here is how to protect yourself.

Heartless scammers are fleecing mourners of cash and personal details as they attempt to view funeral livestreams.

NSW Police say scammers are making contact with grieving Sydney locals through “malicious” funeral streaming links and fundraising pages.

“[The website] steals your personal information and often requests payment and/or credit card details,” NSW Police said in a statement.

Facebook is the common way the make contact — commenting on legitimate posts sharing details about a death or memorial, and posting the fake link.

These often lift photographs and information initially shared by the person’s loved ones on social media, or scraped from obituaries.

One of the Facebook groups sharing fake links taking mourners to malicious websites.

Northern Beaches Funerals echoed the warning, posting online: “Online funeral services and livestreams offer families and loved ones unable to attend a funeral service held by Northern Beaches Funerals the ability to take part from anywhere with an internet connection.

“Unfortunately, this compassionate technology has also become a target for heartless scammers.”

In February the grieving daughter of a Sydney man shared an image of a Facebook group bearing her father’s name and photograph, warning friends and family “do not fall for this scam”.

The group posted a website link directing users to the ‘funeral live stream’.

“You may receive a request to join this group in your notifications,” she wrote.

“It then asks for your credit card details to view the live stream of the funeral … My goodness, how do these people sleep at night.”

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Originally published as The ‘heartless’ way scammers are targeting mourning Sydneysiders