Funeral scam?

I heard just the other day about some new scam,somebody claiming to be a local funeral home,but I don't remember just what it was all about.

That said,the wife said she got the darndest call this afternoon. Somebody saying he was my "nephew Phil". I have a cousin Phil,and his son is Phil Jr,but there's not a nephew. Anyway,she just kinda figured it was Jr without giving it a lot of thought. He said he had bad news,said my mother died. Now she was suspicious because one of my brothers would have called if that happened. She said "Bettie"? He said no,Pam. She told him he must have the wrong number. He named me by first name,middle name and last name,and asked if I was formerly from Wisconsin. She told him no,said I'd lived here on this farm all my life,never in Wisconsin. She said he was apologizing all over the place.

The thing is,I know there's another Randy Lund in Wisconsin,or at least there used to be. I broke a spindle on a Badger wagon one time and the old Badger dealer had passed away. His wife had done the bookwork and ordering anyway and she gave me a number to call in Wisconsin. When the guy asked my name so he could ship it,he told me that was his brother inlaw's name too,but he lives in Wisconsin. We didn't get in to middle names.
Just makes me wonder though,if it was his mother who passed away. The wide said as much as the guy was apologizing,it didn't really sound like a scam.

Unless the other Mr. Lund moved to our neighborhood, the area
code on the phone number should have given Phil a clue. No?

Should be able to google that name and see if an obituary comes up, might have to wait a day or so if she just passed today. This way you would know if it was on the up and up.

That crossed my mind too,but if he was "formerly" from Wisconsin and "Phil" just searched the name on the net and didn't know where he had moved to?

Correction,it was Dawn not Pam. A search didn't find anything yet.

Area codes and exchanges don't prove anything anymore. With cell phones and overlays of numbers you can't tell for sure. For example, I knew a fellow who lives locally (Pennsylvania) who had a cell phone on his son's family cell phone plan in California, so has a California area code in PA.

So, do you or your wife have "a dog in this fight"? (In other words are you suffering the loss of a loved one, in which case, I offer my most sincere condolences)? If NOT, simply dismiss it as a scam (or confusion) and move on!