I heard about this earlier in the year. It was on the news about how prominent funeral owners and the like could manipulate bereaved families into buying what were effectively fake body replica bags. It was shocking to hear, replica bags to say the least, particularly as it was these same bereaved families who were already going through extreme emotional distress and grief.
When I heard the whole story, I was in disbelief. How on earth could someone be so selfish and heartless to take advantage of vulnerable people in this way? It’s not just the money they’re stealing from their clients, but the trust and respect, something that is most important in a situation such as this.
One of my friends had a family experience something like this recently, and it was really sad. He told me about how the company took advantage of his father and pinched him for more money. Knowing that someone would take advantage of a family member’s death and prey on the vulnerability of the deceased’s family is truly reprehensible.
It made me think to do some more research into this topic. After all, funerals are big business and personally, I felt a responsibility to ensure I could make sure others wouldn’t have to go through something similar. As I dug deeper, I found out that this had been a long-running problem and one that was, unfortunately, widespread.
I learned that the majority of the time, it’s because of a lack of consumer education and awareness. Many of the bereaved families don’t understand the different funeral business terms and don’t know the laws or regulations in place. All of this opens them up to being taken advantage of. It was a sobering thought.
This was a huge reminder to me about the privilege of education and how those without it leave themselves vulnerable. People need to arm themselves with the knowledge and confidence to protect themselves from scammers operating in an unethical manner. This is the only way to avoid the same problem from happening again and send a clear message that it will not be tolerated.