The family of missing teenager Jay Slater has slammed a TikTok amateur detective who pulled out of the search after complaining that he had not been paid.
Some of the funds from a GoFundMe page, which was set up by the 19-year-old’s family and has so far raised almost £50,000, are being given to support volunteers who have gone out to Tenerife to search for the missing teenager.
However, TikToker Callum Fahim, who had been on the island for two weeks helping search efforts, has decided to come back home after he claimed he had received no funds and paid for his trip himself.
Fahim, who works for the NHS, also said that he received “death threats” online during his time in Tenerife, and was now looking forward to “heading home” to see his family and eat some “fried chicken”.
A row broke out between Fahim and the Slater family after Debbie Duncam, the 19-year-old’s mother, published a statement on the fundraising page, where she thanked the NHS worker and another TikToker, Paul Arnott, for their help.
She said part of the funds were being given to the pair, with some money being put towards “Callum’s accommodation and essentials”.
However, Fahim clapped back at the statement, stating that he had received no money and needed to pay “for his own bus tickets” to go to the search site at Masca each day.
“I can confirm that non (sic) of my essentials and non (sic) of my group’s essentials have been paid. However she did contribute towards a hotel and flight,” he said on a TikTok livestream.
Speaking to Sky News, Fahim insisted: “I haven’t had anything from the GoFundMe. We have not had a bit of essentials paid for.
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“I’ve never had any money from them whatsoever or even offers to go and pick anything up.
“If they had offered it, personally I would’ve said maybe a bit of a treat at the end of the week, but don’t worry about it.”
Following Fahim’s comments, Slater’s family fired back. They said that Duncan had sent £740 to the TikToker out of her own pocket, as they now wanted to save the funds for specialist search and rescue teams which are likely to be very pricey.
“We appreciate every single person who’s come out,” they said.
“He’s a hiker. We don’t need hikers, we need experts.”
A friend of Duncan’s posted on Facebook to address the situation. They said: “Hi sorry again people but this is just not how this should be but I need to put this out there.
“We have someone claiming to not have had any support from Debbie and are now talking about the family at a time like this making all the speculations worse on social media.
“It’s not fair why are people adding more stress to this devastating situation no one knows how bad this affecting everyone it’s cruel.
Slater’s last known location
GB News / Google Earth
“I just wanna share this now because it’s not true and it’s not fair.”
She shared evidence of a £740 bank transfer made to Fahim, and his name was later removed from the original GoFundMe update, with just Arnott remaining.
The 19-year-old flew from Lancashire to the Canary Islands for a music festival but disappeared after he went to stay with people he met during a night out on 16.
During his final call to his friend Lucy Law at 8am local time on June 17, the 19-year-old said his phone had only one per cent battery, he was thirsty, and he did not know where he was.
His last location showed he was in the Rural de Teno Park – an area popular among hikers. He has not been seen since.
The search has since been called off on June 30, nearly 14 days after Slater went missing, leaving his family “in the dark”.
