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Pierluigi Paganini<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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August 07, 2026<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image-12.png\")
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Scammers use AI deepfakes to impersonate OnlyFans creators, trick fans into sending money, then disappear after payment.<\/p>\n
Criminals are building fake identities using AI-generated deepfakes of real OnlyFans creators, luring their followers with promises of live chats, and then disappearing after collecting payment. The scheme runs on social platforms that most people consider harmless, TikTok for discovery, Snapchat for the conversation, Cash App for the payment, and by the time the fan realizes something is wrong, the money is already gone and the account is blocked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a form of\u00a0catfishing<\/a>, in which an attacker impersonates someone online and engages in romantic or sexual interactions for ulterior motives. In this case, the scammers create fake accounts on platforms like TikTok, using material lifted from a real creator\u2019s photos and given a synthetic voice.\u201d reads the report<\/a> published by MalwareBytes. \u201cThey\u2019ll use that to nudge viewers into a direct message conversation on services like Snapchat.\u201d<\/p>\n The choice of Cash App as the payment method isn\u2019t accidental. It\u2019s a peer-to-peer platform built for informal transfers between friends, not commerce \u2014 and transfers clear instantly. Once sent, the money is effectively gone.<\/p>\n \u201cThis kind of fraud has two victims: the fans who lose money to scams, and the creators. The latter lose income that they might have collected from fans, and also run the risk of retribution from disgruntled followers who think they\u2019ve been taken advantage of.\u201d continues the report.<\/p>\n One creator, Jessieanna Campbell, told USA Today<\/a> she constantly receives messages from angry fans accusing her of taking their money and blocking them, for transactions she never made. Another creator interviewed by USA Today had fans show up at her home after the confusion, and now sometimes doesn\u2019t feel safe leaving the house.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem is that domestic laws only apply to domestic platforms. The stolen material largely sits on overseas hosts, making it difficult to control.\u201d concludes the report. \u201cEven if laws could be universally enforced, it might not matter. In three experiments conducted this year, researchers at the University of Bristol\u00a0found<\/a>\u00a0that most participants relied on deepfake content even after being told it was fake.\u201d<\/p>\n Federally, the Take It Down Act criminalizes non-consensual explicit content including AI-generated material and requires rapid platform takedowns. The EU\u2019s AI Act requires disclosure when AI is used for image generation. Neither law has stopped the content from circulating because enforcement stops at national borders and the hosting doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Spotting a deepfake<\/a> is still possible if you know what to look for. USA Today described a TikTok video impersonating creator Elaina St. James, made by animating a still photo with a cloned voice, that showed distorted teeth and frozen eyebrows. Those artifacts are common in AI-generated video, especially when the source material is limited. Malwarebytes has published a practical guide to spotting deepfakes<\/a> of any kind.<\/p>\n A similar pattern has been documented in romance scam contexts. Malwarebytes previously reported on Amazon and Apple impersonation scams<\/a> using the same redirect-and-collect mechanics, where the victim is moved off a trusted platform into a direct channel before the ask. The underlying manipulation \u2014 establish familiarity, trigger urgency, request payment through an irreversible channel, is consistent across scam types regardless of which face or brand is being faked.<\/p>\n If a \u201ccreator\u201d reaches out to you through a third-party platform and steers the conversation toward a direct payment for exclusive content, treat it as a red flag. Verify through the creator\u2019s official, verified accounts before doing anything else. And if someone who looks like a creator you follow is asking for Cash App payment before delivering anything, assume you\u2019re about to be blocked.<\/p>\n Follow me on Twitter:\u00a0@securityaffairs<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Mastodon<\/a><\/p>\n Pierluigi\u00a0Paganini<\/a><\/p>\n (SecurityAffairs<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0hacking,\u00a0AI Deepfakes)<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t