‘Disturbing’: Recruiter exposes dark side of OnlyFans

Melbourne woman Victoria Sinis left her job after just five weeks working in marketing and recruitment for an OnlyFans management agency.

Now, the 25-year-old is taking to social media and speaking out at schools to shine a light on the sex work industry.

“When I got onto the OnlyFans platform I started to see everything,” she told students at a Melbourne school in a recent TikTok video.

“I started to see how they (subscribers) would talk to girls, I started to see content... I cried every single day.”

In a separate video, Ms Sinis explained part of her job required her to recruit new women for the agency.

“My main objective was to scour the internet basically and look for girls who fit certain criteria,” she explained.

Speaking to news.com.au, Ms Sinis said she would consider a number of factors during the recruitment process including how many social media followers a woman had, her overall “vibe”, and what content she was sharing online to deduce if she would be interested in joining OnlyFans.

“You’re scouring to see if people would even be willing to do it,” she explained.

“The girls who were the youngest were the highest performers, so even if they were older than 18 we would say they were 18”.

‘Disturbing’ acts

She said she witnessed a number of “weird” and “disturbing” subscriber requests during her time in the industry.
She saw women defecating on themselves and another subscriber who wanted to see a woman hanging on a slightly suspended ledge while another woman stepped on her hands.

“In real life, they’re not in danger. But in the video, they’re in danger and you step on their fingers and they’re going to be hurt. That’s how twisted it was,” she explained.

“There are also requests like can you wear these outfits and be tied up with your hands behind your back?”

While she said the acts were “disgusting” to watch, she said the scariest part was how normalised it was among those in the industry.

“I think that the fact that people are so desensitised to that is what makes other people think it’s okay. But for me, it was really confronting.”

“Half the time I couldn’t even open my laptop and go onto the platform.”

She said the work took a mental toll on some of the women.

“I know a lot of girls didn’t want to do OnlyFans anymore but a lot of them felt like they didn’t have another option. They felt that that was the only thing that they were good for.”

Ms Sinis also claimed some had to deal with being stalked by subscribers.

“A lot of girls had so much anxiety they didn’t want to go out just in case someone does spot them … They would have stage names so that people wouldn’t find them.”

She eventually decided to walk away from the industry in June 2023, after she heard Melinda Tankard Reist, the movement director of Collective Shout, speak at an event about how ‘over-sexualised’ the world has become and its impact on youth.

“When she finished speaking I actually ran to her and I said, ‘Hi, my name is Victoria I work for an OnlyFans agency and I hate myself.’ And she was kind enough to have lunch with me and answered all my questions.”

Days later, she walked out of the job.

Ms Sinis now volunteers with Collective Shout to raise awareness about the industry.

Looking back, she said the work she was involved in ‘breaks her heart’.

“It’s so wrong … I looked at these girls when I was working at the agency and I thought this could be my nieces one day, and it just broke my heart.”

It’s why she recently spoke at a Melbourne school and shared her story.

“Girls (I spoke to) believe that the only way they could have the same level of happiness and access to travel was if they did OnlyFans because this really famous person off TikTok seemed happy.”

“People don’t understand what they’re slowly being drip-fed on social media. And I just look at these girls (at schools) and I think you’re so beautiful, you have so much potential. And yet, we’re just poisoning you to think that your body is your commodity and that’s what that’s what will get you the big ticket in life.”

Ms Sinis said while the industry is perceived as being “liberating for women”, it’s still dominated by fans and agencies.

“At the end of the day, it’s a service. If you’re not servicing your clientele, you’re not making money,” she said.

“So the women are still very much controlled by the subs that they have, and their wants and needs by the agency’s wants and needs.”

She said she doesn’t think anyone should enter into any type of OnlyFans work and would tell young people looking to get into the industry to remember their worth is not tied to their body.

“I just want to encourage every single person to whenever they feel like posting a provocative photo and putting their value in the likes or in the compliments to just take one minute, and name three things that aren’t the looks that they like about themselves. And if they can’t do that, then maybe don’t post the photo.”

News.com.au has reached out to OnlyFans for comment.