Scammers Use Fake Funeral LiveStream Social Media Posts to Extort Victims

Stu Sjouwerman | Aug 30, 2024

BEC Email Scams PhishingIn a troubling new low, cybercriminals are targeting individuals grieving the loss of a loved one by charging their credit cards with excessive fees through a heartless scam.

According to analysts at Malwarebytes, these scammers are now posting fake funeral live streams on Facebook, attempting to exploit the emotional vulnerability of those mourning.

These scams likely involve compromised social media accounts or automated searches for recent deaths, potentially even leveraging the passing of celebrities to lure victims.

Victims are led through a series of pages before arriving at a payment page, where they unknowingly authorize scammers to charge their credit card €64 every 14 days.

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Source: Malwarebytes

While the scam itself is relatively simple and avoidable if someone carefully reads the details, it’s a stark reminder of the importance of security awareness. Scams like this don’t just happen in the corporate world; they are prevalent in everyday online activities.

This is why security awareness training is so crucial. By teaching people to  stay vigilant in all areas of their digital lives, they are better equipped to recognize and avoid scams like this from the outset, rendering these schemes ineffective. 

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Source: Malwarebytes

KnowBe4 empowers your workforce to make smarter security decisions every day. Over 70,000 organizations worldwide trust the KnowBe4 platform to strengthen their security culture and reduce human risk.

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