A funeral home is using software to prevent heartless scammers from targeting grieving people on social media, but has warned risks remain for those who comment under online death notices.
Ronnie Thompsons Funeral Directors had considered turning off comments under notices on its Facebook page, due to the number of links being posted by scammers seeking to exploit people’s grief.
The Co Down undertakers has since utilised tech to block posts with links steering unsuspecting Facebook users to sites featuring scams including asking for payment to view ‘live streams’ of funeral services.
However, most of the firm’s death notices on Facebook now still feature a warning that scammers posing as relatives of the deceased will directly target users who offer condolences by trying to add them as a ‘friend’.
This can lead to users being asked to make a donation to what is described as a charity nominated by the deceased’s family.
David Jess, a senior funeral director with the Lisburn-based firm, told the Irish News that scammers continue to try and cash in on mourning.
Hundreds of people post messages of condolence each day under posts featuring pictures of the deceased and their funeral details.
“We invested in moderation software for our Facebook page that prohibits the posting of fake links underneath the notices,” Mr Jess said.
“Those links would have said things like ‘last chance to view the funeral - click here’. They were advertising a ‘live stream’ and also at the same time tried to fool users into making donations to a nominated ‘charity’.
“We began using the blocking software around six months ago. Before that, some of the staff feared we would have to turn off comments altogether on the Facebook page, due to the amount of scam links appearing under each post getting out of hand.
“But comments are a legitimate way to allow people to not just offer condolences, but also to reminisce about the deceased, so we didn’t want to take that away from people.”
Mr Jess said the firm is still required to warn users that scammers may continue to target them, despite their best efforts at blocking.
“The scammers have systems where they can send out multiple friend requests at any one time to those who comment, and try to steer them towards the fake livestream and donation links,” he added.
“Our disclaimer encourages people to be aware of these practices, and to remind them that donations to nominated charities can only be made directly through our website.”
A spokesperson for Facebook parent company Meta said it does not allow fraudulent activity on its platforms “and we remove this content as soon as we become aware of it”.
They added: “We are continually investing in protections against fraud for people who use our platforms, and work closely with law enforcement to support investigations. We also encourage our community to report activity like this to us and the police, so we can take action.”
