My father died a month ago in Oklahoma. The service went off without a hitch, and the funeral directors that assisted us were wonderful.

One week after the service my mother recieved a call from someone stating they were with the office of Vital Statistics (the scammer did not do his homework or he would have known that my mother and father ran a funeral operation for several years) wanting my fathers Social Security number and his date of birth to complete the Certificate of Death.

My mother is a smart cookie and knew the process and had recieved the certified copies from the State a few days eariler. She of course told the scammer that she had already recieved the copies and did not see the need to give that information out.

My mother reported it to the State Attorney General's office and it seems that this is a common scam.

I believe that it is important for us, as funeral directors, to inform the public of such scams. The owner of the firm and myself developed a document that relates all the scams out there currently working in our state and in the Country. It is something to be aware of, because not all of the public is as savy as us when it comes to Vital Statistics...