A Florida funeral home is getting spoofed by ghost call scammers. This is what the owner of Mullins Memorial Funeral Home and Cremation Service warned.
He even shared that he encountered at least three calls from ghost numbers over the last few months. If you are one of the funeral home's clients, here are the major details you need to know.
Florida Funeral Home Number Spoofed by Ghost Call Scammers
According to WESH, ghost call scammers usually spoof other contacts to fool their victims. For those who don't know this malicious method, spoofing is when cybercriminals imitate numbers by falsifying data, enabling them to look legitimate.
Spoofing leads to the creation of ghost numbers, which are used by scammers to call their victims. In the case of Mullings Memorial Funeral Home and Cremation Service—located in Cape Coral—scammers are using their number to trick its clients.
"To the consumer, it looks like they're talking to the people they trust to care for their loved one," said Shannon Mullins, the funeral service's owner, via NBC-2.
He said that ghost call scammers were able to make simple phone calls using his business number, as well as his personal contact number.
"My friend Terry received a call from me and she's like, 'This isn't Shannon, but this is Shannon's number,'" explained Mullins.
He added that scammers will claim that the funeral home accidentally overcharged their customers. After that, the criminals will ask for their credit card information and other financial details.
Mullins said that what the scammers are doing is below the belt. He said that using his funeral home's reputation to fool grieving families is "pretty low."
Can You Prevent Ghost Calls?
Since ghost call scammers rely on imitating legitimate contact numbers, there's really no way to prevent their calls from reaching you.
But, there's one thing you can do. This is to make sure that you avoid giving any sensitive information that is linked to your bank accounts.
If you sense something suspicious about the caller, just simply hang up the call. After that, you can call the individual or company that the scammer is copying to confirm.
You can either call them back, send them a text, or an email. Remember, these scammers can spoof numbers of funeral homes, your colleagues, or family members.
But, they'll have a hard time imitating their real voices and how they talk to you.
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