The disappearance of British teenager Jay Slater has captured the attention of the nation in the days since he went missing in Tenerife.
Authorities are undertaking a huge search operation for the 19-year-old who vanished seemingly without a trace on Monday morning after attending a rave.
While teams continue to scour the mountainous terrain he was last seen in, Britons back home are searching for ways to assist from afar.
One option is to donate to a fundraiser set up by Jay’s friend Lucy, who was the last person to speak to him on the morning he went missing.
However, GoFundMe has had to suspend several fake fundraisers that had cropped up in Jay’s name. Some people are also unsure how the money donated will be used. Here’s everything you need to know about it.
For latest updates on the search, follow our live link by clicking here.
What is the official GoFundMe page?
The Official GoFundMe page was set up by Jay’s friend Lucy three days ago.
In the description, she details the circumstances around his disappearance and the “frantic” phone call she had with him the morning he went missing.
He had attended the NRG festival with friends last Sunday but travelled to an Airbnb there during the early hours of Monday morning with two men he met at the festival - without realising the distance from his apartment in the tourist area of Los Cristianos.
At around 8.15am, Mr Slater called Lucy, who had been at the festival with him, to tell her he had missed his bus and was planning to make the 11-hour walk back to his accommodation.
The last known location of the apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, placed him on a path in the Rural de Teno National Park at 8.50am.
People can find the fundraiser, which has surpassed the £27,000, here as the search continues.
What will money be spent on?
As the donations pour in, questions have been raised about what the money being donated will be used for.
On Friday evening, the administrator of an official Facebook page set up to help find Jay responded to claims his close family was being impersonated on social media.
Rach Harg, who is a friend of Jay’s family, added that money raised would be sent to Jay’s mother and would be used to fund his family staying in Tenerife for the duration of the search.
What has GoFundMe said?
Nearly a dozen other GoFundMe pages supposedly set up for Jay were promptly shut down as suspected scams.
In a statement, a spokesperson said: “Our hearts go out to Jay Slater, his family and everyone else 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.
“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 organizers and the recipient of the fundraiser.
“Before money is transferred, an individual or organisation’s information, including their banking information, must be verified.”
