The fundraiser for missing British teenager Jay Slater is set to hit £50k, but the page has now been overwhelmed by trolls and those calling it a scam.
The search for the 19-year-old was official called off yesterday nearly two weeks after he went missing. The Lancashire lad was reported missing in Tenerife on June 17 after he called his friend Lucy, telling her he was lost in a rural area of the island with only 1% battery left on his phone.
His last known location was half a mile north of Masca village. Despite ongoing efforts by emergency workers, including the Civil Guard, mountain rescue team and fire crews, the challenging terrain of the Rural de Teno park is proving difficult to search.
READ MORE: Police call off Jay Slater search in Tenerife after nearly two-week manhunt
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(Image: Facebook)
The search was officially called off yesterday (Sunday), but that hasn’t stopped people raising funds to help the family. Despite this, friends, family and well wishers have been donating money to the cause, with the total going up by £10k since Friday, to just under £47k today.
But among the donations from genuine people are those attempting to troll the family – but weirdly paying to do so. One of those was labelled purely as “Delia Smith,” and although we’re pretty sure it wasn’t the real TV chef and joint majority shareholder of Norwich City, the comment merely states: “WHERE ARE YOU?”.
Donating £5 to the cause, the user channelled that infamous moment where Smith screamed – drunkenly – at Norwich fans in February 2005 during a 3-2 home defeat to Manchester City.
(Image: GoFundMe)
Another troll paid £5 to post under the name of Danny Vaughan, and wrote: “Get sum corned beef ash pal. Eye am nackud. Done bed.”
Another fiver was splashed by a confused well-wisher, who wrote: “I don’t know if this is a scam tbf I kind of hope it is so at least that means Jays okay.” And lastly, another woman, called Charlotte, paid £5 to warn people that the fundraiser could be a scam and that she had “concerns” about it.
(Image: GoFundMe)
Other sick trolls donated cash using the name of Madeleine McCann.
Regardless, the family has been working with GoFundMe to take out parts of the cash to aide the search and pay for costs endured by them while out in Tenerife.
The top donations come from the Bees Knees pub in Accrington, which donated £1,000 earlier today, and two people who gave £600 each. The family remains out in Tenerife to continue the search, without Guardia Civil help
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