Beware of Fake Funeral Streaming Links for Stabbing Victim
- Police issue warning about scammers providing fake links to stream a stabbing victim's funeral.
- Several Facebook accounts were flagged for offering deceptive funeral streaming services.
- Community urged to be cautious and avoid falling for such scams.
Merseyside Police have issued a warning regarding scammers who are promoting fake links to a live stream of the funeral for six-year-old Bebe King, one of the victims of a tragic stabbing incident in Southport. The police's cyber unit discovered multiple Facebook accounts offering these fraudulent links, which also directed users to a donations page. Bebe, along with two other young girls, Alice da Silva Aguiar and Elsie Dot Stancombe, lost their lives during a violent attack at a dance class on July 29. Detective Inspector Steve Frame emphasized the importance of vigilance when accessing online content, particularly from social media. He cautioned that many scams begin by luring individuals into providing personal information on seemingly legitimate websites. Frame advised the public to verify the authenticity of any site by using known contact details, such as those found on bank cards, rather than relying on social media promotions. The funeral for Elsie, referred to by her family as "Elsie’s Special Day," is scheduled for Friday in Birkdale, near Southport. In a related development, a web developer named Farhan Asif has been charged with cyber terrorism for allegedly spreading misinformation about the suspect in the stabbing case. Asif, 32, claimed he was not the original source of the false information, which inaccurately identified the suspect as a Muslim immigrant, despite him being born in Wales to a Christian family. Following the incident, false rumors proliferated online, including a misleading name for the suspect, which originated from a website called Channel3 Now. The site’s editor-in-chief later issued an apology for the confusion caused by the misleading information.