When Mark Bull, owner and operator of Bull Family Funerals, sits down at his computer to share details of a funeral he is hosting, he is hounded by relentless scam artists.
Bull told 9news.com.au he spends hours trying to block, delete and report scammers on Facebook who try to take advantage of Australians who have lost loved ones.
This scam is cruel yet simple: cybercriminals comb Facebook for news of funeral notices and create fake profiles or groups pretending to host a livestream.
Guests who have interacted with funeral notices or events will then be targeted with a fraudulent livestream link which asks for credit card details before letting you in.
“I’ve had a lot of people ring me and say, ‘Oh, we tried to watch Joe Bloggs’ funeral yesterday. We didn’t know if we should put our key card in’,” Bull explained.
“I hate social media, but so many elderly [people] are on social media.
“It’s unbelievable, I’ve got to scour it quite frequently, I’ve got to constantly be watching what’s happening on funeral notices… To delete and block them out.”
Bull first noticed the rise of the funeral livestream scam during COVID-19, when online funerals became necessary.
Since then, almost every single funeral notice he shares on the Bull Family Funerals Facebook page is then turned into a fake livestream link.
Almost daily, Bull fields calls from distressed friends and family members asking why they need to “pay” to watch their loved one’s funeral.
Grieving families are then forced to contact mourners and beg them not to fall for the scam.
“I actually now offer families if they’d like service to be recorded, to put it onto a USB and give it to them, and they can distribute it to whomever they want,” he said.
“Something really needs to be done to stop these scammers.”
Bull said he doesn’t know how to block scammers without eliminating livestreams and social media funeral notices altogether.
However, he acknowledges how important it is for some mourners to access video streams of funerals if they can’t travel.
“And it’s not just happening here in Australia, it’s worldwide,” he added.
More often than not, Bull said funeralgoers catch the scam before it takes their money.
He worries about the people who don’t realise before it’s too late.
Some scammers have also gone a step further and set up fraudulent fundraising pages with photos of the deceased asking for money.
The Australian government’s National Anti-Scam Centre noticed a spike in this particular scam in December 2023.
“The National Anti-Scam Centre is aware of reports of ‘livestreaming’-related scams circulating on social media,” a spokesperson told 9news.com.au.
“Many of these reports have related to livestreaming sporting events, but we have had reports of this extending to livestreaming funerals.
“The National Anti-Scam Centre works to disrupt live streaming funeral scams where they are reported to Scamwatch, including by escalating to the relevant social media reporting portals.”
A spokesperson for Meta, which owns Facebook, said it removes content like this for violating community standards.
“Scams are unfortunately used to deceive, defraud, and manipulate people across the internet,” the spokesperson said.
“That’s why we are continuing to invest in tools and technology to prevent them, alongside working with industry, the government and law enforcement to take steps to improve detection and enforcement.
“We encourage anyone who sees content that might violate our policies to report it so we can investigate and take action.”
Scamwatch publishes information about recent scam activity in Australia, while the ACSC also has a page outlining the types of schemes to be aware of.
If you’ve been scammed and lost money, immediately contact your bank or financial institution and change your passwords.