Scam Artists Reach a New Low With Despicable Funeral Deception
To quote Jed Clampett from the Beverly Hillbillies, these people are lower than a snake s belly in a wagon rut. Fleecing people out of their hard-earned money using the Federal Emergency Management Agency s (FEMA) COVID-19 Funeral Assistance program.
Part of the Federal Government s Coronavirus Relief and Rescue packages, was the Funeral Assistance Program. It provided financial assistance to help offset expensive funeral arrangements to families who lost a loved one from COVID-19. Heartless scammers are using the program to trick grieving family members and steal their personal information.
The scammer, pretending to be with FEMA or another agency, sends an email, text message, or phone call claiming you qualify for financial assistance from the program. To begin the process of collecting funds you ll need to register the deceased person s information. As usual, this is where they try to get names, birth dates,