Missing British teen Jay Slater's family are urging people not to donate to GoFundMe set up 'by scammer'
The family of missing teenager Jay Slater have urged people not to donate to any GoFundMe pages.
Jay, 19, had travelled to Tenerife to attend the New Rave Generation festival. He parted ways with his friends to stay out on Sunday (16 June) night with a new group.
Jay was reported to be wearing a grey t-shirt, shorts and trainers as well as carrying a black bag before his disappearance. He is described as slim, with brown hair and blue eyes.
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The last person to hear from Jay was his friend Lucy, who revealed to Manchester Evening News that he phoned her at around 8.50am on Monday (17 June) saying he was lost in the mountainous area and his phone was only on one percent.
"He's ended up out in the middle of nowhere. Jay was obviously thinking he would be able to get home from there," Lucy said.
"But then in the morning he's set off walking, using his Maps on his phone and ended up in the middle of mountains with nothing around. He rang me at about 8 o'clock morning saying his phone was on one percent, he said 'I don't know where I am, I need a drink and my phone is about to die'," she added.
His last known location was the National Park of Teno.
As the search gets underway for the missing Lancashire teen, his family have warned people not to fall for any scammers trying to take advantage of the situation.
Sharing an update in a Facebook group dedicated to the Jay's disappearance, a family member clarified that they have not set up a GoFundMe page and are not looking for donations from the public.
The group description has also been updated to reflect the family's wishes, which reads: "Jay's mother DOES NOT want a GoFundMe set up so DO NOT donate to one!!
"If this changes one of the admins will post."
At the time of writing, the initial fraudulent pages have been removed.
A spokesperson for GoFundMe has since told LADBible they have a 'dedicated Trust & Safety team' reviewing campaigns on their website.
"Our hearts go out to Jay Slater and everyone concerned about his disappearance. All campaigns are under review and no money will be transferred unless we can verify it goes straight to his family," the spokesperson said.
"At moments like this, we often see people set up campaigns to benefit strangers when they are moved to help. That is why we work with organisers to ensure any money donated goes to the right place.
"GoFundMe has a dedicated Trust & Safety team reviewing all relevant fundraisers. In addition to the team of experts, we deploy proprietary technical tools and have multiple processes in place to verify the identity of organisers and the recipient of the fundraiser.
"Before money is transferred, an individual or organisation’s information, including their banking information, must be verified."
In the hours following his disappearance Jay's mum Debbie has flown out to Tenerife to aid in the search.
Debbie has also revealed that she's been receiving 'sickening' calls from pranksters with 'northern accents'.
"Some of the phone calls I've been getting have been horrible. I just don't know why people would want to do things like this," she told the Daily Mail.
"I've been getting lots of prank calls. It's sickening. People ringing me and saying they've got Jay because he owes them money.
"But it's not putting me off and I want to keep this in the news because it's going to increase the chances of Jay being found safe and well which is obviously what we're praying for."
Topics: Travel, UK News, World News, Jay Slater
Brenna Cooper