Every so often, a piece of sad or shocking news appears in your feed. A well-known figure, a politician, a local leader, a sport player, even a family member is said to have fallen seriously ill or died. When shock or grief takes hold, we share, follow, and click before we verify. Scammers have learned to make use of that reflex for financial gain, and it is exactly what they are counting on.
Mark Gorrie from Gen and its family of consumer brands including Norton shares his advice on how to recognise these tactics and what to do when one reaches your feed.
High profile names are the oblivious targets, and New Zealand has produced a recent example. A famous head coach learned that fake Facebook posts were claiming his wife had died when a reporter raised it with him in front of the cameras. His wife remained alive and well, but the posts had already spread widely before anyone close to him could set the record straight.
Over the past few months, a number of pages have appeared publishing the fake deaths of known personalities, and many quietly gained thousands of followers.
Why fake obituaries get made in the first place
Fake obituaries exist to build an audience quickly. Scammers reach for famous names because recognition travels fast, and a shocking claim about someone we follow spreads before anyone thinks to check it. A scammer posts a death notice for a recognisable name who is very much alive, then collects the clicks, shares, and engagement that follow. The link leads to a page made to look like genuine reporting, through its real purpose is to collect personal data, deliver malware, or grow a following that can later be sold, monetised, or used for the next scam.
When the news concerns someone we admire and follow, we tend to react before we reason, and that moment of feeling is enough to skip the habit of checking. By the time the post is exposed as false, the scammer already has what they came for.
Signs of a fake obituary
Most fake obituaries reveal themselves in the same few ways, and knowing the signs makes them much easier to catch:
- The post comes from an unfamiliar page or account with little or no posting history.
- It is designed to prompt an instant share through urgency, shock, or outrage.
- The link asks you to log in, confirm your identity, or complete a survey.
- The story appears nowhere among established, reputable outlets.
- There is a clickable link that takes you to a new, and usually malicious, site
Any one of these is reason enough to slow down. Genuine news of this kind would be carried by several trustworthy outlets at once, not by a single page you have never heard of.
What actually protects you
Once you have spotted those signs, handling one of these posts well comes down to a few straightforward habits:
- Don’t share it.
- Don’t click any links in the post.
- Verify the news by going directly to a source you already trust.
- Report the post to the platform.
- Run a scan on your device if you have already clicked through.
If you use a security product such as Norton 360 day to day, it can flag a dodgy website as suspicious even when your emotions have already led you there.
Fake obituaries work because they draw on a genuine human impulse, the wish to share sad news and mark a passing with respect, and scammers rely on us acting on it before we examine it. The more strongly a piece of news pulls at your emotions, the more it is worth a second look. Ten good seconds spent checking is usually all it takes to avoid passing the lie along. When something moves you, that is the moment to stop.