Profiles impersonating late Green MP Fa’anānā Efeso Collins are distributing fake funeral links

The late Efeso Collins addresses supporters, volunteers, campaign staff, and media after losing the Auckland mayoral election to Wayne Brown. Photo / Michael Craig

By RNZ

Multiple fake profiles impersonating the late Green MP Fa’anānā Efeso Collins and fake livestream links have appeared on Facebook.

One page has more than 100 friends and advertises a hoax livestream link to his funeral using pictures of Fa’anānā and his family.

The 49-year-old MP collapsed and died after taking part in a charity event in Auckland on Wednesday.

In a statement, Tipene Funerals said it was aware of a number of fake Facebook pages but none were connected with the company.

Tipene Funerals said authentic communications to the wider community about the funeral would come from its Facebook page or from the news media.

Collins family spokesperson Taito Eddie Tuiavii said while it welcomed community Facebook pages set up to express grief, any with false livestream links or impersonating Fa’anānā should not be trusted.

“None of those pages are linked to us and ... we believe those pages are all scams under the advice of [company director] Francis Tipene.

“We have no knowledge of them and have no idea who those people might be.

“Efeso was somebody that connected with people from all over Tamaki and all over Aotearoa - we welcome that.

“To the best of my knowledge, and from what I’ve seen, all of these pages with livestream details are not genuine or authentic pages.”

Tipene Funerals would provide livestream details on its Facebook page closer to the memorial on Thursday.