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Watch out for Funeral Scams

ubiorbi, Public Domain Mark 1.0
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Creative Commons

Funerals are big business in America, making them prime targets for scammers. What are the most common funeral scams and what can consumers do to avoid them? What are the dangers of on-line funeral shopping? Why should you pre-plan but not pre-pay for funerals? Consumer reporter Mary Lou Cooper talks with white collar crime expert Steven Weisman at Bentley University in Massachusetts to get the answers.

Mary Lou Cooper reports on consumer issues for KSFR as well as on politics and elder affairs. She has worked for the U.S. Congress as well as for the Nevada and Tennessee legislatures, and remains a political junkie. She worked many years for an association of Western state legislatures and was a contributor to “Capitol Ideas,” a national magazine about state government. In 2016 Cooper received a public service award from the New Mexico Broadcasting Association for her KSFR story on Internet romance scams. She has received journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and from the National Federation of Press Women. She grew up in Oak Ridge, TN and received her BA from Emory University in Atlanta and her MA from the University of Texas Austin. She also holds fiction and screenwriting certificates from the University of Washington.