As someone who has worked in the sex industry for 10 years, including running my own OnlyFans account, I receive agency approaches on a weekly basis (The malignant rise of OnlyFans managers: ‘It’s exploiting. It’s grooming. It’s predatory’, 18 June). The criminal behaviour you describe – violence, blackmail, intimidation – is rightly exposed. But I think the article missed an opportunity to give readers something equally valuable: the ability to spot these agencies before signing anything.
The recruitment tactics have become increasingly covert. Agencies no longer always approach creators directly. Instead, they manage accounts of existing creators and write to potential recruits pretending to be them. A woman with 200 followers suddenly receives a message from what appears to be a celebrity with 300,000 – telling her she’s beautiful, that she knows photographers who’d love to work with her, and asking if she’s considered OnlyFans. That “celebrity” is an agency employee. This is the first red flag most women never recognise as one.
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