Scam alert - funeral home scam.

Are you a person that likes to open the paper and read the obituaries?  Do you worry about friends or family member dying?  Then this funeral home scam may suck you in and add viruses to your computer.  It could steal any financial information on

The latest internet scam looks somewhat legitimate but has the potential to unleash a Pandora’s box of viruses and spyware onto to your computer.  The subject line “Passing Of Your Friend.”

The first thing to remember is that funeral homes do not have your email address.  None of your friends is going to give out a list of their friends emails.  They do not have the time to do that during the time of death.  You may get an email about somebody dying but it will be from a friend not a funeral home so remember that.  NEVER OPEN A LINK IN A EMAIL FROM SOMEBODY YOU DO NOT KNOW.

The SCAM email came from a sender claiming to be a funeral home.  It usually comes up Eubank Funeral Home, but it may come up in another funeral homes name.  The email said they wanted me to contact them about someone that I knew that passed away,” he said.

The email had a seemingly legitimate letterhead and the sender offered prayers and condolences. The message invited John to attend a celebration of his friend’s life and prompted him to click on a link. DON'T DO IT.  LOOK UP THE NAME OF THE FUNERAL HOME ON THE INTERNET.  Call or email them to find out who died.

You will find out that there is no such funeral home or that they have none of your friends at their home.  The email is just part of a scam that could have exposed your computer to viruses and spyware that could potentially reveal personal information like social security numbers and credit card information.

The Federal Trade Commission recently sent out a scam alert warning consumers about the malicious email.

“What the scammers do is they send thousands, possibly millions of emails to people and hope to catch some that are actually experiencing a situation with a friend or relative where they’re concerned about their health,” FTC spokesman Nat Wood explained.

Everybody trust their funeral directors or funeral homes.  Nobody would expect a funeral home to send a virus to your computer.  But there people are not funeral homes.  They are scammers.  These scammers are breaching by taking advantage of an avenue that we’d never use,” he said.

The FTC and Better Business Bureau are urging consumers to delete the email if they receiver it and to avoid clicking on links unless they know the sender and what they are sending.

I hope this warning keeps your computer safe.  When you go to buy your next Southeastern Michigan home give me a call on my cell (313) 310-9855.  We work in all of the metro Detroit area so whether you are buying a waterfront home for sale Orchard Lake MI or a foreclosure in West Bloomfield MI.