Sick funeral scammers target heartbroken Scots family after teen's sudden death
Lucy Grant, 17, passed away after suffering a fatal seizure on April 15.
The grieving family of a schoolgirl who died suddenly from a fatal seizure have been targeted by sick funeral scammers.
Lucy Grant, 17, died at her home in Johnstone on April 15. The teenager had been diagnosed with epilepsy just over a year ago and suffered debilitating fits that left her unable to attend school.
Mum Lynette and step-dad Stuart first noticed the teen wasn't responding on the morning of her death. They desperately tried to perform CPR on their daughter before emergency services arrived but she could not be saved.
Lynette, 44, announced her daughter's funeral would take place on May 1 and asked mourners to wear pink.
Within hours loved ones were targeted by cruel thieves who set up a fake Facebook page advertising a live stream of Lucy's funeral service in exchange for cash.
The scammers also targeted mourners by adding them as friends on social media.
Sharing a warning about the scam, Lynette wrote: Lucy's funeral wasn't streamed and anyone who knows us knows that there's not a chance she would have been having any mass.
"Can my friends who have added this page please report it and I hope no one has given them money."
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Lucy's tragic death prompted anger across Scotland after we reported how the schoolgirl lay dead on her bedroom floor for nine and a half hours as cops and ambulance staff "argued" over who should take her body to hospital.
Her family said her sudden death was shocking, but that they were left "traumatised" after the police and ambulance staff warred over whose responsibility it was to remove Lucy from the property.
The agencies profusely apologised to the family after the shocking scene and said an internal investigation over the handling of the case was being undertaken.
A growing number of grieving families are being targeted by fraudsters using social media.
Nick Britten from the National Association of Funeral Directors previously told the Record they began seeing this type of fraud increasing last year and that many Scots families had been targeted after featuring in the news.
'Friends and family of the deceased person are not only asked to provide their credit card details to supposedly have access to view the funeral, they are sometimes asked to accept a friend request from the scammers – thereby giving them access to their Facebook information and photographs. These links are fake and anyone who engages and hands over their credit or debit card details will be doing so to scammers.
'This is a despicable practice preying on bereaved people. Our advice to members of the public is to be extremely wary of any external links supposedly promoting a live-stream, fundraising or asking for donations, and instead always check with the family or the funeral director to see whether it is legitimate. If a funeral is being live streamed, a funeral director will always be able to provide the correct link. Funeral Directors do not generally charge for live streaming.'
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