‘Vile trolls’ and scammers have targeted the funeral of Jay Slater by claiming it will be live streamed, in a bid to make money off the teenager’s tragic death.
LBT Global, a charity working with the family, say they have been inundated with reports of these scams which have been popping up online.
Scammers claim to have a live stream link to Jay’s funeral and are reportedly offering to send viewers this link for a fee, the charity said.
It comes as a date for the 19-year-old’s funeral has been set for Saturday, August 10, in the Chapel at at Accrington Crematorium, in Lancashire. The service will include a ‘celebration of life’ prior to the interment.
The charity labelled the scam as ‘hurtful and deeply unrespectful’ to Jay’s family who flew his body back to the UK from Tenerife just last week.
Chief Executive Matthew Searle, from LBT Global, told The Sun: ‘We are inundated with reports of these scams, and as fast as we can get the platforms to remove them, more appear.
‘To be completely clear – there is no live stream of Jay’s funeral, and anyone claiming to offer one is a scam.
Jay’s final resting place was discovered by a Dutch search team sent to the Spanish holiday island to find his body after he disappeared on June 17. Pictured: Jay and his mother Debbie Duncan
The community of Oswaldtwistle vowed ‘we will always remember him’ at a memorial service held for teenager Jay Slater
‘As much as being hurtful and deeply unrespectful, this is taking vital donations away from a small charity.
‘We ask that anyone seeing one of these pages reports it to the platform. Please don’t follow them or send them money.
‘It is so typical of the vile trolling this family have received for them to target something so special as a funeral.’
Jay’s family have strongly denied any footage of the funeral will be available online.
Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, disappeared on the morning of June 17 while trying to walk back to his holiday accommodation in Los Cristianos, taking what he believed was a short cut across the mountains.
He attended the NRG music festival with two friends before his disappearance, and his last known location was the Rural de Teno Park in the north of the Canary Island, which was about an 11-hour walk from his accommodation.
A date for the 19-year-old’s funeral has been set for Saturday, August 10, in the Chapel at at Accrington Crematorium, in Lancashire
Jay had travelled to an Airbnb in Masca after a night out but the two men said to have rented the property were later ruled ‘not relevant’ to the case.
Jay’s final resting place was discovered by a Dutch search team sent to the Spanish holiday island to find his body after he disappeared on June 17.
Three members of the Signi Zoekhonden team and their Belgian Malinois dog called Flex pinpointed the tragic spot during a five hour trek in and out of the remote Barranco Juan Lopez valley and the rocky ravine at the end of it.
The team carried out their mission to take videos and pictures of the scene around 300 yards into the ravine to try and bring some comfort to the 19-year-old’s family by showing them where he was in his last moments.
A GoFundMe fundraiser originally set up to help find the apprentice bricklayer hasbeen used to repatriate Jay’s body and to give him, as his heartbroken mother Debbie Duncan put it in a plea for further donations, ‘the send-off he deserves’ after he was found in the Barranco Juan Lopez valley last month.
At the time of publication, the fund – set up by his friend Lucy Mae just hours after he disappeared – had reached £74,276.
