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The new scheme of deception is aimed at relatives of the deceased.
Fraudulent schemes are gaining momentum on the social network Facebook, offering relatives and friends of the deceased to view live broadcasts of funeral ceremonies.
According to an investigation by the 404 Media agency, fraudsters use information about real dead people from the official pages of funeral services, creating clones of broadcast ads (a post with a link and a photo of the deceased). Victims are then attracted to sites where they are required to enter their credit card details to view the ceremony, under the pretext that they need to register.
Fake broadcast on a fraudulent website
On the day of the actual funeral, one of the victims found out about the scam when her sister and other family members received friend requests from a fake Facebook account that pointed to a live broadcast of the ceremony. The actual broadcast was indeed planned, so the situation did not arouse the victim's suspicions.
The attackers probably found information about the deceased on the legitimate funeral director's Facebook page. After 404 Media applied to Meta, the company removed the malicious page. However, despite Meta claims, many such fraudulent schemes are still operating. The study found that some sites contain dozens of fake ads about funeral broadcasts, as well as ads for fake broadcasts of sports and music events.
A relative of the deceased, contacted by 404 Media, said that he found about 50 similar fraudulent pages simply by entering the search query "funeral service"on the Facebook site. According to the victim, Facebook could easily remove such pages as they appear, emphasizing the visibility and availability of fraudulent content on the platform.
Meta and its products (Instagram and Facebook) are recognized as extremist, and their activities are prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Fraudulent schemes are gaining momentum on the social network Facebook, offering relatives and friends of the deceased to view live broadcasts of funeral ceremonies.
According to an investigation by the 404 Media agency, fraudsters use information about real dead people from the official pages of funeral services, creating clones of broadcast ads (a post with a link and a photo of the deceased). Victims are then attracted to sites where they are required to enter their credit card details to view the ceremony, under the pretext that they need to register.
Fake broadcast on a fraudulent website
On the day of the actual funeral, one of the victims found out about the scam when her sister and other family members received friend requests from a fake Facebook account that pointed to a live broadcast of the ceremony. The actual broadcast was indeed planned, so the situation did not arouse the victim's suspicions.
The attackers probably found information about the deceased on the legitimate funeral director's Facebook page. After 404 Media applied to Meta, the company removed the malicious page. However, despite Meta claims, many such fraudulent schemes are still operating. The study found that some sites contain dozens of fake ads about funeral broadcasts, as well as ads for fake broadcasts of sports and music events.
A relative of the deceased, contacted by 404 Media, said that he found about 50 similar fraudulent pages simply by entering the search query "funeral service"on the Facebook site. According to the victim, Facebook could easily remove such pages as they appear, emphasizing the visibility and availability of fraudulent content on the platform.
Meta and its products (Instagram and Facebook) are recognized as extremist, and their activities are prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation.
