Scammers are using AI to monetise obituaries

YouTube is home to some bizarre phenomena. Filmed medical procedures that resemble fetish content. True crime ASMR. But in a separate shady corner of the internet, you’ll find a certain breed of scammers. Obituary pirates. They sail the high seas in search of obituaries to summarise so they can monetise your loved one’s death. 

These unsettling videos feature adult men narrating images stolen from the victim’s social media overlaid with corny images of candles and flowers. In video's description you'll likely find two things. Affiliate links for expensive Amazon products and SEO-baiting words like ‘cause of death, ‘accident’, and ‘what happened’. 

In this morbid, tasteless pursuit, pirates will embellish coverage of the victim's death and use SEO techniques to drive traffic to their channel. In many cases, they don’t care enough to check if the information is correct. Their priorities lie with traffic, not good taste. As a result, heartbreaking information looks sloppy, emotionless, and rushed. All for a quick buck and a short-sighted strategy to capitalise on a temporary surge of web traffic.

Republishing obituaries isn't a new phenomenon. U.S site Legacy.com partnered with funeral homes across the country, turning obits into a business model. Even as funeral live streams became commonplace, funeral homes still uploaded their obituaries online. The difference is that the tone of this business has changed. There’s no compassion or care, and their loved ones can see right through the dollar signs in their eyes.

While obituary pirates of the past were slammed for plagiarism, the new breed congregating on YouTube has discovered a legal loophole. Instead of reading text taken directly from the obit, scammers will use generative AI to summarise or embellish them. 

This slimy genre of obituary repositories exists for one main reason: views. Anywhere there’s traffic, there’s money to be made through ad revenue. Don’t be mistaken though, these pirates aren’t making good money. While popular obituary channels are ad-supported, the most a non-sponsored user can make is a few cents a month. That’s not exactly retirement money. 

For the vast majority of channels, the aim is to get big enough to generate ad revenue. Some upload dozens of pirated obituaries every hour, abandoning any semblance of credibility or compassion. Even if the information is incorrect, their priorities lie with quantity over quality. Obituary pirates don’t care that they appear insensitive, or that the final video looks rushed, emotionless, and unsettling. It's all a numbers game to them. 

If you go searching for obituary piracy channels, you’ll find most of the videos have little to no views at all. Even if they do, they rarely rise above the double digits. According to YouTube, this is enough for ‘creators’ to meet the requirements of the Partnership Program. This means that spammers can begin to make money from advertisements in their videos, even though there should be no place for them in an obituary.

Perhaps you knew the deceased in your youth and lost touch. You didn’t attend the funeral but still want to pay your respects. Some obituary pirates take advantage of this and solicit donations in honour of the deceased but pocket the money for themselves.

Others openly describe it as a money-making venture and include affiliate links. But these links aren’t for flowers, gifts, or anything remotely funeral-related. They're for overpriced vitamin C cream and artisan soaps. Thanks, I guess?

While there’s no question that there are serious ethical concerns around obituary piracy, it’s shocking how easy a video is to make. Chuck the obituary into ChatGPT and ask it to pump out a summarised slab of text. Use a text-to-voice tool and insert an image or video of some candles next to the deceased. The low cost of living in some countries means that if scammers upload enough of these senseless videos, they can make a living. Perhaps even worse, international law also makes it extremely difficult to prosecute them.

A Google spokesperson told the New York Times that they’re aware of low-quality obituaries flooding their search engine and are looking for ways to address it. 

This disturbing trend has prompted the search engine to make continual updates to its spam policies. While Google already penalises AI-generated content created solely for manipulating search rankings, it also aims to prioritise and reward high-quality, trustworthy content.

Copyright isn’t an easy avenue to pursue. One entity does not own an obituary. While they’re written by loved ones, funeral homes, or the deceased person themself, obituaries are non-commercial. This means that the person writing the obituary technically doesn't own it. But if the person who wrote it doesn't own it, then who does? 

It takes some work to figure out who actually owns an obituary. Who drafted it? Did anyone make changes? What agreements were signed before publishing? It's also likely the text and image have different owners. Identifying the owner is integral in enforcing copyright as only the copyright holder can issue a takedown notice. 

Even if the copyright holder takes legal action, it still might not be enough. While copyright does provide legal recourse, it doesn't protect your loved one from obituary pirates, even if the author issues a takedown notice. To add insult to injury, damages are likely to be low for one obituary. While legal action against scammers is rare, it’s not unheard of. However, the vulnerability that makes obituary piracy lucrative makes it a difficult fish to catch.

As hard as it is to hear, there’s not much that can be done. Where possible, purchase flowers, candles, or gifts for the deceased (or their loved one) in person if you can. If you’re purchasing flowers off a website and sending them directly to the funeral home, sometimes you can contact the funeral home directly and they can facilitate its delivery. Otherwise, ensure you pay for flowers through a genuine channel.

If you’re going to donate to a cause that was close to the deceased, do not follow any donation links in an obituary video. Always transfer directly to the charity or check with the family directly for a genuine link.