Essex Police has revealed the crimes it has recorded involving use of OnlyFans.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request, published by Essex Police, lists the crimes involving use of OnlyFans, the content subscription service, reported since January 1 2021.

OnlyFans is a service primarily used by sex workers who produce pornography, but it also hosts the work of other content creators.

The total number of alleged crimes reported to Essex Police which mention OnlyFans between January 1 to July 11 2021 is six.

This includes one attempted sexual assault on a female, two crimes where private sexual photographs and films were allegedly disclosed with intent to cause distress, one incident of harassment and two incidents of sending letters with intent to cause distress or anxiety.

In one alleged incident, a named suspect hacked into the victim's OnlyFans account and posted her address and where she works for users to see.

In another, an unknown suspect created an OnlyFans account and posted nude photos pretending to be the victim, causing the victim to feel distressed.

One suspect was alleged to show up to a victim's events, message her continuously and take photos of her.

Since being blocked, they created an OnlyFans account advertising the victim as a sex worker with in excess of 300 pictures and charged people to view them. 

See a list of all of the alleged incidents here.

Investigations are ongoing into two of the incidents.

In three of the incidents, a named suspect was identified and victim supported police action, but "evidential difficulties prevent further action".

In the remaining incident no suspect was identified.

The crime was investigated as far as reasonably possible, the force says, but was closed pending further investigative opportunities becoming available.

A spokesman for OnlyFans said: "Safety is a top priority at OnlyFans. We have multi factor authentication in place for all Creator accounts to ensure that accounts are secure. 

"It is a violation of our Terms of Service to copy, duplicate or record user content, and we work closely with third parties to proactively identify and remove content stolen from the platform. 

"We provide creators with a number of services, free of charge, to help them to protect their intellectual property rights.

"Unfortunately, many other websites do not adopt the same approach to copyright protection and allow for the posting of content which belongs to OnlyFans creators on their platforms."

You can find more information on the steps OnlyFans takes to protect creator content here.

“In addition, to protect Creators and Fans, all real life interactions (including escorting or prostitution) and/or sharing location information on OnlyFans are against our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy and are strictly prohibited on the platform," the spokesman added.

"All content and posts are moderated and anyone who utilises OnlyFans for these purposes will have their content removed and may be prevented from using the platform. 

“OnlyFans has a close working relationship with law enforcement in all jurisdictions in which we operate, including the UK. 

"We have a dedicated team which responds to requests for information or assistance from law enforcement and a specific guide in place to help Law Enforcement to contact us."

Further details on how Only Fans works with law enforcement can be found here.