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Scams

March 31, 2024

Scams and funerals are not typically associated, but a recent incident involving the funeral of the Green Party’s MP Efeso Collins has brought attention to this unfortunate reality.


Scammers created a fake Facebook page and sent friend requests to acquaintances of Collins’ family, offering a link to view his funeral via livestream. Upon clicking the link, victims were prompted to pay a fee, often as low as $1. Once paid, scammers gained access to their bank details, allowing them to

siphon money from their accounts.


These fraudulent Facebook pages appear authentic, bearing the name of the funeral home, making them really easy to fall for. To prevent falling victim to such schemes, it’s advisable to visit the Gillions live streaming page directly and use the provided link.


If you are asked to pay a fee to view a Gillions funeral, disregard the link, report the profile to Facebook or

the relevant social media platform, and let us know. Gillions will never charge viewers to watch a live-streamed service.


We also occasionally receive emails asking us to provide services for a family member, but we can’t contact the person wanting the service, for a number of interesting reasons, the latest being, that the person was on the ‘high seas’.  They requested that we pay in advance for elements of a service, the latest being a non-existent jazz band.


Navigating the internet, and potential scammers is a bit like being on the ‘high seas’ ourselves.


We endeavour to do our best to keep “scammer free” but if we do get a notification of a scam using our name, we will place a notification on our Facebook page - the official one!

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