I recently wrote blog posts on how to protect yourself from identity theft and fraud and how to protect your late spouse from identity theft. Unfortunately, scammers target widows and widowers because they know they are emotionally vulnerable and, particularly with widows, may be managing their finances independently for the first time. These are the most common types of scams you need to look out for:

Obituary Scam

Criminals often take information from obituaries – such as the full name, date of birth and names of family members – and cross-reference them with online people-search databases to find phone numbers and addresses. With this information, they can then steal identities and/or identify potential targets for the following scams.

Funeral Home or Cemetery Impersonation

A scammer, impersonating an employee of the funeral home or cemetery, calls the widow(er) and claims that more money is needed to cover final expenses or that there was an issue processing the payment and requests a different credit card.

Romance Scam

Scammers target widows or widowers through social media groups or dating apps, often claiming to also be widowed. They pretend to form a relationship with their target and then claim to be in a dire financial situation and need emergency funds. I hear about this all the time in Facebook groups for widowed parents.

I experienced this myself when I first started online dating. A very good-looking man (per his profile photo) who claimed to be a widower started messaging me frequently and within a few hours asked to exchange phone numbers. The fact that he was pursuing me so aggressively so quickly was a red flag. I recognized that his profile photo was taken in front of the Jerusalem skyline, googled it out of curiosity to confirm and, amazingly, stumbled upon his exact profile photo online. It belonged to someone who was decidedly not a widower, so I blocked him. Who knows what his intentions were, but I suspect he would’ve eventually asked me for money.

Inheritance Scam

Criminals pretending to be employees of an insurance company contact a grieving family member to notify them of an unexpected inheritance, such as a life insurance policy. They then request that the family member provide personal financial details or pay upfront processing fees to release the nonexistent funds.

Phantom Debt Scam

Scammers posing as employees of the IRS or a collection agency call the widow(er) to inform them of back taxes or debt owed by their late spouse that must be paid immediately to avoid additional fees.

Fake Financial Advisor & Investment Pitches

Criminals posing as financial advisors call widows with nonexistent investment opportunities that require transferring money to them. Some fake financial advisors even create fake websites and LinkedIn profiles to reinforce credibility. Women in particular are targeted because the criminals assume that they are inexperienced with managing money.

What to Do if You’re the Victim of a Scam

1. Call the fraud department of your financial institution, bank or credit card company immediately to dispute charges and freeze your accounts.
2. If your identity was stolen or you shared sensitive personal information such as your Social Security number, place a credit freeze with the credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
3. File a police report with your local police department. You may need to send the report to your financial institution.
4. Report the fraud to the Federal Trade Commission.
5. If the scam was committed online, file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.