Sick funeral scammers target grieving family of Scots tourist who died in Prague

The grieving family of a tourist who died after jumping from a party boat in Prague have been targeted by sick funeral scammers.

Joop Sparkes, from Galashiels, vanished after diving into the Vltava River on Sunday, April 27. His body was recovered from the water a week later following an agonising search.

But within mere hours of his family announcing the tragic news on Facebook, "despicable" crooks had set up three fake pages to advertise his memorial service.

Stolen pictures of the 29-year-old were used to convince friends and family to part with cash for access to the live-stream, with links asking for bank details.

His sister Jodie Wilson told the Record: "It's absolutely despicable that these people target families who are grieving.

"We have enough going on without worrying that our loved ones are being scammed.

"The sickening part was how quickly these pages were set up. We only found out that Joop's body had been found on Monday morning.

"We were at the embassy when we got notifications about the fake pages being set up within hours. We are trying to deal with a horrific situation and then this happened.

"It's like they've been sitting there waiting for the news of Joop's death. They're just the lowest of the low."

Unfortunately, one family friend had already given the scammers their payment details before Jodie was able to warn them. They have since reported the fraud to their bank.

Jodie continued: "They appear to have specifically targeted people who have commented on or responded to our posts over the last couple of weeks.

"The pages have been reported by myself and countless others, but two still remain up online. "

Jodie's ordeal comes amidst a growing surge in fraudsters preying on mourners in an attempt to scam them for money.

We have reported how funeral directors and ministers have been urging people to be on their guard against scammers hijacking funeral posts in recent weeks, with one Scottish minister, Rev Barry Hughes, saying that four funerals conducted by him have now been the focus of the fraudsters.

Awdri Doyle from A & A Doyle Funeral Directors, who are arranging Joop's service, told the Record that it was a huge concern across the industry.

"It's a despicable thing to do to a family and unfortunately Joop's is not the first one this has happened to, it's happening all the time at the moment," she said.

"No one should ever be asked to pay to watch a funeral service so if you're asked for this it's 100% a scam.

"None of my clients had been targeted in this way until Joop's family this week, but I was aware from others that it's been going on for a little while now.

"We're not really sure how we go about stopping it apart from making people aware of what's happening as possible. If there is ever a link to a service it will be on our official business page or will be sent out by someone in the family. People need to be alert to what's happening."

Nick Britten from the National Association of Funeral Directors said that they began seeing this type of fraud around the start of the year with scams being particularly prominent in Scotland. High-profile deaths like Joop's have also been particularly targeted.

A spokesman for the National Association of Funeral Directors said: “We have become aware of an increasing number of scams on Facebook being set up associated with death and funeral notices whereby scammers set up fake pages on the back of genuine death notices and post links to a supposed live-streaming of the funeral, or ask for alleged fundraising donations.

“Friends and family of the deceased person are not only asked to provide their credit card details to supposedly have access to view the funeral, they are sometimes asked to accept a friend request from the scammers – thereby giving them access to their Facebook information and photographs. These links are fake and anyone who engages and hands over their credit or debit card details will be doing so to scammers.

“This is a despicable practice preying on bereaved people. Our advice to members of the public is to be extremely wary of any external links supposedly promoting a live-stream, fundraising or asking for donations, and instead always check with the family or the funeral director to see whether it is legitimate. If a funeral is being live streamed, a funeral director will always be able to provide the correct link. Funeral Directors do not generally charge for live streaming.”

Police Scotand says you can report cyber crime concerns to the National Cyber Security Centre. They advised: "Fraudsters can hack social media and email accounts. This is done to impersonate trusted friends and family.

"Fraudsters will gain control of accounts, predominantly Facebook, and message the account’s contacts asking for money.

"If you are contacted by someone claiming to be a friend or family member through a social media site, contact them using something else, i.e. by telephone, before agreeing to give them money."

Meta, owners of Facebook, said in a statement: "“We don’t allow this content on our platforms and removed the pages brought to our attention.”

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