More than a thousand alleged crimes linked to OnlyFans have been reported to police over the last five years, a Mirror investigation has found. They include at least ten cases of women claiming they are being forced to perform sex work on the seedy platform by their controlling partners. We’ve also found more than 70 complaints from victims of revenge porn who claim others are making money from sex tapes and photos posted on OnlyFans without consent. Some were allegedly secretly filmed and were being sold, often by former partners, for cash.

OnlyFans, which is owned by a British company, has grown to a £5bn a year industry, fuelled by DIY pornography and stunts of “creators” like Bonnie Blue and Lily Phillips. Through Freedom of Information Act requests, we found that police are being asked to investigate claims of rapes linked to the making of videos for the site, along with allegations of blackmail, stalking, harassment, child abuse material and threats of violence.

One alleged victim in South Yorkshire told officers that she had been strangled and raped by a partner who also set up an OnlyFans account where she says he forced her “to do sexual things on camera and he takes all the money”. A woman in West Mercia said she had been “emotionally and mentally abused” by her partner for 16 years, during which she says he “forced her to do an OnlyFans account” and controlled her money.

A third woman in Lincolnshire said her alleged abuser threatened to kill her and “forced” her to “have sex with other males for money and made her open an OnlyFans account for him to make money”. West Yorkshire Police revealed that one suspect has been charged following a complaint from an alleged victim that he “made her join OnlyFans”. OnlyFans has revealed it has had nearly 180 legal requests from UK law enforcement in the last two years and a spokesperson told us: “OnlyFans works closely with law enforcement agencies around the world. Unlike other platforms, OnlyFans knows the legal identity of all its users so is uniquely placed to support investigations. This approach means OnlyFans is an extremely hostile environment for anyone seeking to abuse our platform.”.

We asked every police force how many crimes had been reported to them which referred to OnlyFans. 38 out of 45 UK police forces responded and told us of 1,613 crime reports where the OnlyFans was recorded in the “modus operandi” - where officers record details of the crime. This includes some alleged crimes that cannot be directly linked to the site - the suspect may have only threatened to post material on OnlyFans or the crime report may have just noted that either the suspect or alleged victim is a user of the site.

27 forces provided us with some details of the individual crime reports and they paint a disturbing picture of the chaos connected to the rise of the platform which claims to have more than 4 million “creators” and over 300 million “fan” accounts. Lincolnshire Police were told that one “suspect has been making OnlyFans content with the victim but has gone beyond consent of the victim and raped her”. There were 21 reported rapes where OnlyFans was mentioned, including ten in Kent, where there had been six arrests and three charges. Two of the ten cases involved girls aged under 16.

There were more than a dozen cases which refer to involvement of under 18s using the OnlyFans in breach of site rules. West Mercia Police were told of claims that a 16-year-old girl was “posting indecent images of herself on social media sites (OnlyFans) and making money from subscribers”. Devon and Cornwall Police were told of a child who allegedly “created child porn with her partner on [the] OnlyFans website when she was 17”. OnlyFans CEO Keily Blair said in 2023: “We know the age and identity of everyone on our platform. No children allowed, nobody under 18 on the platform.”.

We have found 77 crime reports where alleged victims say that sexual images or video have been shared on OnlyFans without their consent. Another 87 reports were from OnlyFans models complaining their own content has been leaked. It is likely that these cases are not criminal though they may cause distress and harm. One woman in an abusive relationship with a man who sexually assaulted and threatened to kill her, told Humberside Police that he also “posted her nudes on OnlyFans without her knowledge or consent”. Another “controlling and coercive" suspect in Lancashire allegedly filmed his partner “without permission” while they were having sex and posted it on OnlyFans, “again without her permission”.