A Free Public Service

SCAMS BULLETIN Host Jay White is an inactive attorney in San Mateo County, California.

April 19, 2023.

FUNERAL SERVICE FRAUD

Attribution: Federal Trade Commission

When families need to plan a funeral or cremation service, especially in an unfamiliar place, they often search online for a local provider. It’s never easy making funeral arrangements.

 Now, help is on the way. Thanks to a court order in an FTC legal case, a person who needs services of cremations provider, can find its prices online and know where it’s located.

The crooks sued by the FTC used online ads to make it look like they performed cremations when they did not; used online ads to make it look like they performed cremations when they did not; made it look like they were local when they were not; and gave grieving people lowball quotes by phone —when the real price was much higher.

Now, a court order says that the crooks and their owners must post price information on their websites. They must give clear information about their (actual) locations — as well as the names, locations, and contact information for the local funeral homes they connect people with. (Info they didn’t so much share before.)

To get help thinking through the steps, and knowing what funeral homes are required to do, check out Shopping for Funeral Services by Phone or Online — which is how many of us shop for just about everything now. And remember: if one funeral home won’t answer your questions or give you the information you asked for, look somewhere else. And then tell the FTC: ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

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