Facebook scammers often capitalize on current events to attract interest. However, some scammers in Australia went a bridge too far when they created numerous fake pages that offered to livestream the funeral of a recently deceased popular politician named Peta Murphy.

According to reports, at least nine separate fake pages were created for the event that drove users instead to a fraudulent website asking for bank details. The scam prompted widespread outrage in the Australian government, which quickly reported all instances to Facebook for removal.

“These scams are completely abhorrent,” assistant treasurer Stephen Jones told The Guardian Australia. “This just shows these people are the lowest of the low and have no boundaries in the heinous acts they undertake to steal people’s money.”

For its part, Facebook responded to the reports with uncharacteristic speed, deleting the fake pages and even offering a formal apology. “We are deeply sorry to Ms. Murphy’s family and friends for any hurt caused by scammers,” a spokesperson for the company said.

Thankfully Facebook acted quickly and decisively in dealing with this scam. However, there are many like it that are never reported or detected, so it’s important to always be extra vigilant about what links you interact with on the platform.

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