A FAMILY’S fundraising page, that was set up to pay for a loved one’s funeral, was shut down after someone claimed it was set up under false pretences.

Ben Parker the family have been left in tears after administrators at the JustGiving site shut down a fundraising page set up to pay for his brother’s funeral costs.

More than £1,400 had been raised by donators after James Parker, 27, killed himself following a battle with depression.

However Mr Parker, 38, said someone contacted the online crowdfunding site posing as his brother’s next of kin and claimed the page had been set up without the family’s permission.

They also said James’ funeral had already been paid for.

As a result JustGiving closed the page down and returned money to donators.

Mr Parker said: “We are absolutely distraught with what’s happened.

"The page was set up by a family friend, Vicky Ruffles, who lives a few doors down from my mum and we were really pleased she did it.

"JustGiving won’t tell us who called in but they won’t believe anything we say and have shut the page down.

“We’ve had a really tough time and this money was going towards the funeral costs.”

James’ family told the Lancashire Telegraph earlier this year he had struggled to cope with the death of his older brother, Leroy, 31, who died of a drug overdose in September 2017.

This came 10 months after Leroy’s two-year-old daughter, Jazmin Parker, died following a short fight against meningococcal septicaemia in November 2016.

Ben Parker said the funeral had already gone ahead and had an arrangement with the funeral directors to pay the costs in instalments.

A JustGiving spokesman wrote in an email to the Parker family: “I can confirm that we were contacted from a family member who raised concerns regarding your page, stating that permission was not given by the family and the funeral was already paid for and has passed.

“We carried out a thorough internal investigation with our compliance team before making this decision and also requested evidence from the complainer to validate their claims and family relationship.

“I understand how disheartening this is and I am sorry for any inconvenience caused, however we need to follow certain protocol when complaints of this magnitude are made.

“The decision to cancel and refund the page has been reached.”