A grieving family from Berkshire have reported how online fraudsters used a photo of their recently deceased son on social media to make mourners click on bogus link for a streamed funeral service with the goal of exploiting their grief to get data and cash.

Alex Chadwick’s photograph was used by the fraudsters and although the funeral service was not filmed (despite the fraudsters using a bogus streaming-link), the family have expressed their shock at the criminals’ tactics and have called for legislation to stop it happening to others.

Alex Chadwick’s father Gary has been reported (BBC) as saying that he believed the family had been targeted because his son was young and had a lot of followers on social media.