'Low-life scammers' targeting vulnerable people at toughest time

Griffith Regional Funeral Services is one of several Riverina businesses to fall victim to online scammers targeting funeral homes across the country.

The scammers have been using information and pictures for upcoming services from funeral home Facebook notices and attaching fake links to them, claiming to provide access to the online stream.

Online streaming allows loved ones to watch funeral services from afar and is a free service most funeral homes provide.

The link provided by the scammers will not direct people to the livestream and requests people to provide their personal details before gaining access to the fake livestream and asking for the person to pay.

Griffith Regional Funeral Services director Peter Woodward said they had been made aware of the scams circulating late last year and had been waiting for it to happen to them.

On Thursday, they were made aware of their first scam and put out an urgent warning.

"The scammers are taking funeral home notices and putting their own link on it," Mr Woodward said.

"It's disturbing.

"It's low-lives who are targeting vulnerable people and reputable businesses."

Mr Woodward said it was important for people to know that no reputable funeral director would request personal information.

"It's a free service," he said.

"Residents don't have to use the links posted on our Facebook pages, you can go to our websites and access the live stream directly from there."

Beavan's Funeral Home, based in Tumut, also put a post on its Facebook page to warn residents of scams circulating late last year.

The home declined to comment on the matter, but in its post it said it would never ask for credit card details nor send people a friend request via Facebook.

"If you receive a friend request, report it to Facebook and do not accept it," the post read.

Australian Funeral Directors Association (ADA) chief executive Dale Gilson said the scams had been circulating across Australia for a couple of months.

"These scammers are targeting people who are already going through a sad and challenging time," he said.

"They are using every avenue accessible to them - email, social media - to send people links.

"A funeral director will never send you a link to a live stream."

Scams can be reported online at cyber.gov.au/report-and-recover/report.