**Warning: contains details of violence that some readers might find distressing**
Rebecca, a creator on OnlyFans, says she signed with an agency after they pledged to help her boost her earnings on the adult social media platform — instead, they mistreated her, threatened her daughter and sent violent masked individuals to assault her at her residence.
"At first, they were wonderful."
The 29-year-old from south Wales says her new managers told her she was gorgeous and they had "never encountered a girl" like her previously.
However, within a matter of weeks they became "very controlling", criticising her looks and barring her from socialising with her friends, she tells BBC Three documentary OnlyFans: Inside the Machine.
The abusive conduct escalated after she altered her account login information, concerned that the agency — which had access to her account — would prevent her from logging in, she states.
"You and your daughter will be eliminated," read one message reviewed by the BBC.
A brick shattered her window and, a few weeks later, two masked individuals arrived at her home. One entered the property, she claims, choked her and tossed her "up and down the stairs". She shows the BBC photographs of bruises covering her legs and throat.
Her experience is part of a broader trend of allegations against agents, who refer to themselves online as OnlyFans managers (OFMs). They promise to assist creators in expanding their businesses on the platform but, according to BBC findings, are sometimes exploitative and menacing.
We heard from 60 UK OnlyFans creators and gained access to one of the largest private Telegram groups for agents, named OFM Empire, which has 24,000 members.
There, we discovered advice on recruiting creators, taking over their accounts and generating profits — often employing the threat of violence. One user referred to this as the "pimp method".
OnlyFans has been aware of concerns regarding overly exploitative OFMs for at least four years, since allegations about agencies first emerged in the international press.
However, for the first time, our investigation centres on the UK, where OnlyFans is headquartered. It indicates that the platform is failing to adequately safeguard creators from exploitation, according to human rights experts and lawyers who have reviewed our findings.
"What Rebecca went through are all recognisable indicators of exploitation — control, coercion, financial strain and an inability to depart freely," the UK's independent anti-slavery commissioner, Eleanor Lyons, tells the BBC.
"This is an issue that the government needs to examine more closely… we may have a platform that is facilitating exploitation, enabling abuse."
An OnlyFans spokesperson stated: "The claim that we 'ignore' [these issues] is baseless."
The company takes user safety "very seriously" and invests "substantially" in measures to protect its community, the spokesperson continued, adding that it fulfils all its obligations under the Online Safety Act.
"OnlyFans' relationship is with our creators and fans, and we are not affiliated with, nor do we support, any third parties such as management agencies.
"Unfortunately, we cannot review or influence any contractual agreements creators decide to enter into outside the platform, as we are not a party to them."
More than 4.6 million OnlyFans creators worldwide upload videos and photos for their paying subscribers. The platform retains a 20% commission.
One of the UK's social media success stories, the company that runs OnlyFans, Fenix International Limited, reported annual pre-tax profits of $684m (£513m) in its most recent filing.
A global network of OFMs has developed alongside the platform, seeking to capitalise on its success. They promise to attract more subscribers and increase earnings — and, in return, OFMs take a share of the creators' pre-tax income, typically 50%.
Gia Clarke, a UK creator who has been active on OnlyFans since its launch 10 years ago, says she receives more messages from OFMs than from fans.
"The idea [of OFMs] is excellent, it's just that there are too many unqualified individuals… because there are no regulations, the models don't know who to trust," she says, describing some OFMs as "predatory".
Creators' OFM contracts shared with the BBC show managers taking up to 70% of earnings. Many demand full access to account login details and impose penalties on creators who attempt to exit contracts early.
"They [OFMs] are exploiting… which is essentially placing these content creators in a state of servitude to the agents and agencies, trapped in an unfair contract," says Matt Jury of human rights specialist law firm, McCue Jury & Partners.
Sophie Kemp, head of public law at Kingsley Napley, concurs: "This isn't really a fair contract scenario at all. They appear to be the initial step on the path to exploiting creators."
Several of the 60 creators we spoke to say their managers had accessed their accounts and then misrepresented their earnings to siphon off more money. One says their manager changed their password to lock them out. Another says their OFM altered the bank details on the account so funds went directly to the manager.
Similar tactics are openly discussed on the OFM Empire Telegram channel.
"Set up an email and password for their [OnlyFans]. They can't log in," one user advises. "I have access to their [payment platform] under their name again [in] my created email. And password. I have full control over everything."
OnlyFans has "strict onboarding procedures, payment controls and ongoing account moderation", the company spokesperson says. If concerns about an account are raised, OnlyFans will immediately restrict the account, investigate, and take steps to ensure the creator is in control of their account, they added.
However, when a female BBC reporter set up an account with a verified photo, she was able to use a male colleague's bank account details to receive test payments.
OnlyFans told the BBC that: "In the UK, when a creator requests a payout from their OnlyFans account, our third-party payment providers perform confirmation of payee checks when processing that payment. If this check is unsuccessful, the payment will be rejected."
Rebecca says she changed her OnlyFans password after a friend with the same OFM had her login details altered by them without her consent, locking her out of the account.
The mother-of-one says abusive phone calls and messages followed.
"He's sending me my own address, telling me how he's going to swing me and my daughter around by our hair," says Rebecca.
"See you soon whore," read another message seen by the BBC.
A brick smashed through Rebecca's window a few days later, she says, and although she contacted the police, she was too frightened to mention the OnlyFans agency.
She describes being attacked, three weeks later, when two masked men came to her house.
"They [one of the men] were on top of me, choking me, and I just tried to get my phone to call someone because I thought, this is it.
"After they made their point, they stopped and left."
Rebecca is certain both incidents were linked to her manager. "I don't have any issues with anyone else."
She is not the only creator we spoke to who says they have encountered threats.
Another woman, who requested anonymity, says she initially agreed to hand over between 35% and 40% of her earnings, but later decided that was too steep.
"He told me that if I want to reduce the percentage then I have to pay him £10,000 because of how much time and effort he's invested in me."
When she refused, she says, her manager stated she would "get what's coming to you".
"Is he going to come to my house? Is he going to delete my account? He used to tell me stories of what he's done to other girls, like how he's got their accounts deleted, how he sent lawyers to the house," she says.
"I'd get the occasional message every week — you're going to get what's coming to you. Just you wait, it's coming." She has since left this manager.
Leanne, 33, signed a contract that gave her manager access to her account and the ability to change the email address on it, as well as 50% of her pre-tax earnings — after OnlyFans had taken its cut.
The contract, seen by the BBC, stated she would be required to fulfil subscribers' requests for content within 24 hours.
She says she informed her manager when she signed that she would not produce explicit videos — but she says they consistently pressured her to create them.
She eventually agreed to film one to "silence them", she says, provided it was not sold to her followers for less than $250 (£187). She felt "physically ill" after filming the video and did not even watch it, she says.
Leanne later discovered it had been sold for less than $40 (£30).
"It just made me feel so disgusting and so degraded," she says. She is no longer posting on OnlyFans.
OnlyFans has been aware of concerns regarding overly exploitative OFMs through media coverage, but we also know of at least one creator who has directly attempted to alert the company.
Riley notified the platform about discussions in OFM Empire that suggested agents were buying and selling creators' contracts without creators' knowledge.
"The tactics of these groups are consistently becoming more and more exploitative," she wrote in an email to the OnlyFans support team in 2024, seen by the BBC.
She was asked to provide evidence, and sent links to OFM Empire and screenshots of messages on the forum.
There was not enough evidence for OnlyFans to take action, she was later told.
If you are affected by any of the issues in this story, help and support is available at BBC Action Line
"Any bad actors exploiting creators" should be reported to OnlyFans, and where necessary the police, the platform told the BBC, so they "can be held accountable and appropriate action can be taken against them to protect our creator community".
The UK's anti-slavery commissioner, Eleanor Lyons, says OnlyFans has a legal obligation to protect users from illegal content and to act promptly to remove it when it becomes aware.
"It's concerning that cases of exploitation are being reported but appear not to be properly acted upon," she says when we show her Riley's emails. "That raises serious questions about whether OnlyFans is meeting its legal duties to protect users."
Lyons says she is "already engaging with" Ofcom — the UK watchdog for online safety — and policymakers, who "need to pay much closer attention".
OFMs should face greater scrutiny and potentially be licensed, she adds.
Ofcom told us that testimony from victims featured in this investigation was "deeply concerning".
"Regulated sites and apps, such as OnlyFans, must assess the risk of their services being used to facilitate the commission of offences," it said in a statement. "Any offences which take place entirely offline, however, are not covered by the Online Safety Act."
Lily Phillips, one of the highest earning UK creators on OnlyFans, says a lack of regulation around OFMs creates "a dangerous space where vulnerable people can be taken advantage of".
"People realise how much money you can make from OnlyFans. So, you know, everyone wants a slice of the pie, especially men… they want their little slice," she says.
Sophie Kemp, from Kingsley Napley law firm, says OnlyFans has a duty of care to its creators and, based on our evidence, she believes "it is only a matter of time before OnlyFans faces claims of negligence from creators who have suffered harm".
Rebecca says she wanted to prove her old agency wrong by making a success of her work on OnlyFans.
She is now signed with an agency where the content is managed by women, which she says makes her "feel a lot better".
Being an OnlyFans creator "is not going to be a permanent thing", she says, and one day she hopes to have earned enough money to perhaps own her own horse-riding school.
If you have more information about this story, you can email Natasha Cox at natasha.cox@bbc.co.uk