A scam targeting families of recently deceased military veterans has led to an alert from the Army Casualty Assistance Center.
The office is warning that military families in the area of Fort Bragg, N.C., have recently received phone calls from individuals posing as members of the armed forces or as government officials, asking for money to present military honors at a service member’s funeral.
Cureston Brice, memorial affairs coordinator for the Army Casualty Assistance Center, confirmed the scam alert in an interview with Military.com.
“It’s heartless, just heartless,” Brice said. “People are already grieving the loss of their loved one who served our country. How can you turn around and try to scam them at their most vulnerable?”
How The Military Honors Funeral Scam Works
The Army Casualty Assistance Center learned about the scam from several funeral home directors in North Carolina that reported families were being targeted for money to pay for an honor guard at a service member’s funeral.
Brice made it clear that service is always free, and that any caller’s request for money is fraudulent.
“Someone had reached out to a family here in North Carolina regarding military honors and told them they needed to pay $1,500 for liability insurance for the Honor Guard,” Brice said, adding it wasn’t just one call. “They kept trying to call the family back. But I think they quickly realized that something wasn’t right, so they didn’t pay it.”
The scam involves a demand for immediate payment by credit card or through a money transfer, with the promise that the charge would be a refundable insurance policy.
Then, the scammer threatens that a veteran’s military honors will be canceled without the payment—a threat Brice assured is “absolutely not true.”
“There is never a situation where a military family has to pay for military honors at a funeral,” she said. “Our military honors protocols specify that once a service member is released from the military under honorable service or under honorable conditions, we will come to their grave site, fold and present the American flag and play TAPS. It’s their right, and the military’s honor to do so.”
Federal Government Wants Scammers Reported
For years, the Department of Veterans Affairs has warned veterans to watch out for scammers targeting military service members and their families. The VA suggests all scam calls be reported to the Federal Trade Commission, found here.
Kagan Dunlap is a U.S. Marine Corps officer and podcast host who heard about the scam and posted a video to warn military members and their families.
“This is probably the most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” Dunlap said in the video. “If you are a family of a recently deceased veteran or service member, all you need to do is communicate with your funeral director directly and that person will coordinate with the military to lock down funeral honors for you—regardless of the branch your service member was in.”
The focus of the casualty assistance center and the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID) is to spread the word about the scam and to educate service members and their families to be on alert for anyone trying to take advantage of their grief.
“You never know if someone has reached out to more military families, not just in North Carolina but nationwide,” Brice said. “As soon as we got wind of the scam, we reached out to the proper personnel, we reached out to CID, and of course, we reached out to the funeral home association just to let them know.”
The advice for anyone receiving a phone call asking for money to pay for military funeral honors is to hang up.
“Again, there’s no time where we ask for payment. So, if someone says that there’s a payment involved, that’s a red flag,” Brice said. “They need to contact the funeral home or contact the casualty office directly.”
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