Anger at 'sick' scammers trying to con grieving Highland families online
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Sickening scammers are targetting grieving families online, a Highland funeral directors has warned.
William T Fraser and Son has warned that fake live-stream links for funeral services are targetting the public.
Taking to its Facebook page, the Inverness funeral directors said: "It has been brought to our attention that there has been fake live-stream links maliciously targetting funeral services.
"Please be aware that our live stream services are only broadcast live from our website at https://williamtfraserandson.co.uk/live-stream/.
"Please do not follow any other link Funeral recordings are available on request to family members only."
News that scammers are targetting the bereaved online has sparked anger among the public, who have thanked Frasers for sharing and hit out at the "sick" people who are trying to scam those who are grieving.
Responding to the funeral home's posts, Rebecca M Jack said: "Heartbreaking to target people at an already difficult time!"
Loretta Rigg said: "I've had two requests from people that I know who have recently passed. Some people are just sick!"
"I have a request yesterday. Absolutely disgusting", added Kerry Maclennan.
And Moira Souter added: "This is terrible as it is a great service for those unable to attend. Hope it doesn't affect services greatly."
The warning that scammers and bots are targetting bereaved families and friends comes amid growing frustration among users of social media at rising levels of spam online.
One such important Highland social media feed frequently targeted by scammers or trolls is that of Police Scotland's Highlands and Islands Facebook page. Posts it makes to highlight police appeals and other important announcements are frequently targeted by fake accounts posting dodgy links to fake videos claiming to be connected to the post.
At the time of writing, its most recent post had been targeted no fewer than seven times, leading to several folk hitting out at the spammers.
Leona Gear said: "Really need to sort out these spam posts."
