Scammers target families who lost loved ones to COVID, steal funeral money from FEMA program

It’s about as low as a scammer can get – targeting families of those who lost a loved one to COVID-19.

A time of grieving for many families has become a nightmare due to scams. It began last year with the FEMA program to reimburse families for funeral costs of loved ones who died due to COVID-19.

"These are people who are grieved, who couldn’t often be at the bedside of the person who passed away," said Ed Michael Reggie, who heads Funerolocity, a comparison website for funeral planning.

He warns scammers are taking advantage of the Federal Emergency Management Agency program to help with pandemic related funeral costs. They troll obituaries looking for mentions of COVID, then reach out to families, offering to help them register for the program.

Their real goal though is to steal critical information such as social security and bank account numbers or to collect "fees" to expedite reimbursements.

In some cases, the scammers even call listed funeral homes. "And say hey, I’m a member of the Smith family, would you mind sending a copy of the receipt because we need to file for reimbursement,’ explained Reggie.

Receipts and information they then use to apply in that family's name. So first know FEMA will not call, email or text a family. You have to call them.

"Know that the only way you’re going to start this process is by calling the FEMA number," said Reggie.

To help fight fraud, Reggie says plan to answer a lot of questions. "They want to speak to people and they take them through a 20 minute process to vet them and make sure they are giving the money to the right people."

And FEMA does not charge a fee to register and there is no way to speed up the process.

Some death certificates do not give "cause of death." FEMA requires it, so you may have to ask the doctor to provide a statement that COVID 19 was a factor in your loved one’s death. Look for a link to the FEMA reimbursement program, with this story in the 5 On your Side section of WRAL.com.