Funeral directors issue warning over Facebook funeral scam in East Midlands

Nottinghamshire’s largest independent funeral directors, A.W. Lymn The Family Funeral Service, has warned those in the region to ‘stay vigilant’ after one of the families it served was made a victim of a new Facebook scam.

The funeral directors are now offering advice to members of the public to ensure nobody else is tricked into handing over money on the social media platform and being conned out of hundreds of pounds.

It comes after accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP reported that UK fraud leapt “alarmingly” in 2023, with a rise in the use of technology leading to an increase in reported online scams throughout 2022 and 2023.[1]

This particular scam, targeting the funeral industry, involves an individual attempting to benefit from the bereaved by taking advantage of the increase in live streamed funeral services.

Live streaming has become increasingly popular since the pandemic and is just one of many options that A.W. Lymn offers to the families it serves to plan the right funeral to suit their needs.

Scammers are setting up and sharing an unsolicited link to live stream a funeral by cloning details, logos and images from the obituary page and the funeral streaming service website.

The link is then shared through Facebook and, when clicked, asks individuals to enter their bank details to make a donation, which has resulted in members of the public being conned out of large sums of money.

Now, A.W. Lymn has shared key advice people must know to avoid clicking on these fraudulent links.

• Donations: A legitimate streaming service will never ask you to pay to watch a funeral or ask you to make a donation during a live stream. Families sometimes request that donations are made in lieu of flowers which can be sent through an official obituary page such as Funeral Guide. Never part with money while on a live stream link.
• Links: Do not open any links from people you don’t know, or links which have not come directly from the family who organised the funeral. A.W. Lymn uses a number of streaming providers such as Obitus and Wesley Media. The relevant funeral director will be able to tell you which streaming platform will be used.
• Support is available: If you are unsure on anything at any stage of the live streaming process, do not hesitate to get in touch with your local funeral directors who will be on hand to answer any questions you may have, as well as verify if a link is genuine.

Matthew Lymn Rose, fifth generation and Managing Director at A.W. Lymn said: “We’re incredibly sorry to hear about what has happened to one of the families we have served.

“Ensuring we offer the highest quality of service to not only the direct families we serve - but those around - is something we keep at the core of our ethos.

“We want to ensure that nobody else falls victim to this unscrupulous scam and strongly advise people to digest this information above and stay vigilant. For anyone who would like further advice they can contact their local A.W. Lymn funeral home who will be more than happy to offer their personal support.”

A.W. Lymn has been helping the bereaved in the region with quality of service and value for money at the heart of its ethos. The award winning family business operates across its 27 funeral homes throughout Nottinghamshire and South Derbyshire and has recently been granted planning permission to build the East Midland’s first barrows site in Calverton, Nottinghamshire.

[1] BDO LLP: FraudTrack 2024