NFDA received a call from a member last week who was contacted by a scammer seeking to purchase cremation jewelry. Scams targeting funeral homes run the gamut from people pretending they want to purchase memorialization items to individuals claiming a relative has died in another country and need repatriation assistance. Scammers contact funeral homes in a variety of ways (fax, email, relay operators, etc.) and the calls can originate from anywhere in the world. 

To minimize your risk of falling victim to a scam, please take these guidelines to heart: 

1. Be suspicious whenever a purchase order involves several pieces of the same merchandise. 
2. Be wary of requests to ship merchandise to an international address; many scams initiate overseas. Moreover, be wary when someone asks you to ship merchandise to a single address but wants the transaction billed to multiple credit cards. 
3. When an American citizen dies overseas and the remains must be returned to the United States, the nearest embassy or consulate will issue a certificate to accompany the casket. You should still personally verify the legitimacy of a death overseas and the intent to repatriate a body by contacting the State Department's Overseas Citizens Services Office at 888-407-4747. 
4. Be wary of emails that contain spelling and grammatical errors or use unusual phrasing. Do not click on links or attachments in suspicious emails. Make sure your antivirus and malware software is up-to-date so that you can minimize damage to your computer system should you inadvertently click on a harmful link or attachment
5. Never ship merchandise until you verify that a personal or business check has actually cleared and that the funds sit in your account. 
6. Simply because a charge goes through on a credit card does not mean it's legitimate. That credit card might have been stolen and a chargeback might eventually be made against your funeral home when the theft is discovered. Therefore, be very careful about accepting credit card payments when contact is initiated by a consumer via email, fax or telephone, especially overseas. 
7. A red flag should go up if the request is urgent or if the individual makes threats. 
8. Do not provide account information to an overseas consumer who needs to “deposit funds” into your account. If you are contacted by someone asking you to send personal or banking information, do not reply in any manner. Guard your account information carefully. 
9. Never wire funds back to a consumer,
10. Be skeptical of individuals asking for your help in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts or in transferring money from an overseas bank account to an account in the U.S. 

If you're contacted by a scammer, you should register a complaint with local authorities.

Finally, make sure that all employees at your firm, as well as your firm's answering service, are aware of the potential for scams by sharing these guidelines with them.