Selling Cemetery Plots? 5 Scams That Cost Families Thousands

Transcript

You just inherited a cemetery pot you will never use. Within a week, the phone starts ringing. Some callers are real bias. Others are running a scam and they will try to get you to wire money back to them. Here is the question that ends those calls and the five mistakes that let them in.

I'm James Bill, founder of Eturnal Rest. For eight years, I have helped families sell inherited plots on the secondary market. I have watched these same five mistakes cost them thousands of dollars. Today, you will know all five. By the end of this video, you will know all five mistakes in the order they reach you.

The single question that ends a scam call on the spot and the two-step check that turns a stranger on the phone into a verified buyer. Let me show you how this played out for one family. Let me tell you about Ruth. Ruth is 68, a retired teacher in Phoenix. Her father passed last winter in Pennsylvania.

Two weeks after the funeral, the estate attorney mailed her a thin envelope. Inside was a deed she had never seen. Two cemetery plots in Brooklyn paid in full back in 1970. Before that envelope even arrived, Ruth had already told the caller which cemetery held the plots. She thought he worked in the cemetery office.

He did not. Within 3 days, three more strangers had called. Two were real buyers asking the normal questions a buyer asks. Two were not. The closest call almost cost her $7,000.

And it started with mistake number one. Here is why the call starts so fast. You are handling an estate you never planned for. You do not yet know what the plot is worth and you want it off your plate. A scammer counts on all three.

Here are the five mistakes in the order they reach you. Mistake one is telling a stranger which cemetery holds the deed before you know who they are. The moment a scammer has the cemetery name, they can fake a confirmation call and pretend to be the office. Mistake two is the cashier's check trap. The scammer sends a check for more than your asking price.

You deposit it. It looks like it cleared. They ask you to wire the extra back. A week later, the check bounces and your wire is gone. It works because your bank shows the money is available almost right away, long before the check is truly verified.

The Federal Trade Commission's rule is simple. Never accept a check for more than your price, and never wire money back to a buyer. Mistake three is signing the cemetery transfer form before you know what the plot is worth. Some cemeteries treat a signed form as your acceptance of their buyback price. Sign first and price later and you have given away your room to negotiate.

The scam call script, the verification question, and a reference card for the seven most common schemes are in the free playbook at eturnalrest.com. No credit card, just an email. Now, mistakes four and five. Mistake four is paying any fee upfront. A real broker takes a cut at closing.

Anyone who asks for money before a buyer even exists is running a scam. Mistake five is listing on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist with no way to check a buyer. Both are where plot scammers go hunting first. Now, the numbers across the cases we have reviewed on the resale side. The average loss to one of these scams lands around $4,800 per family.

And the people running them are not always strangers. In several states, cemetery employees themselves have been charged with pocketing payments for plots they sold on the side. So verify everyone. There is one question that ends every scam call. Write it down.

What is the cemetery's transfer recording phone number? And may I call them to confirm this conversation? A real buyer answers without pausing. A real buyer wants you to call the cemetery, too. A scammer gives you a number that rings a partner, pushes you to skip the call or hangs up.

Ruth asked it on the third call. The man gave her a number. She ignored it, looked the cemetery up on its own website, and called that number instead. The transfer desk had never heard of him. He hung up when she said so.

That was the $7,000 nurmas. Here is what a real transfer actually looks like, so you can tell the difference. The cemetery office confirms you are the recorded owner. The buyer pays through the cemetery, not into your account. The office records the new name on the deed.

No one needs your bank details and no money moves until the cemetery signs off. That is the process a scammer cannot fake. Here is what I would do in your shoes. Step one, get the caller's full name and number. Then hang up and call the secretary's published number yourself.

Step two, ask for any offer in writing through the cemetery transfer desk before you hand over the deed number. The cemetery is the gatekeeper. They have no reason to help someone impersonate them. Ruth used that exact two-step on every call after the third. Five dropped off.

Two were real. One closed at $12,000 about two weeks later. That was the right number for that plot. Three things to walk out with. First, never name the cemetery or sign anything until you know who you are talking to.

Second, never take an overpayment and never wire money back. Third, the cemetery's own published number is the only proof that a buyer is real. Use it every time. The scam call script and the one verification question are in our free end of life planning playbook. No credit card, just an email.

The link is eturnalrest.com in the description and the pinned comment. If a call has you unsure, leave the details in the comments.