I’m sorry to hear about your recent death! Prepare to be scammed! About 250 years ago, Ben Franklin told us that only death and taxes were certainties. Excuse me, Mr. Franklin, I have a third certainty: scams.
Scams that try to capitalize on the death of a person have been slowly growing in frequency, increasing dramatically during the pandemic. While a few of the fraud cases are related to funeral homes and services, these scams can be addressed by state and federal authorities. If you believe your family or friends have been victimized by a funeral service company or funeral director, here are some resources available to consumers: the Federal Trade Commission (ftc.gov), Funeral Consumers Alliance (funerals.org, then enter complaint in search window).
Every state regulates funerals and funeral service directors: Massachusetts, mass.gov/orgs/board-of-registration-in-embalming-and-funeral-directing; New Hampshire, oplc.nh.gov/board-registration-funeral-directors-and-embalmers; Vermont, sos.vermont.gov/opr/complaints-conduct-discipline/; and New York, health.ny.gov/professionals/funeral_director/. In addition, complaints can be filed with state attorneys general.
The process of scamming is fairly simple. As noted previously in this column, most of our personal information already has been exposed through data breaches and phishing expeditions….
