Is OnlyFans Safe?

Last Updated on July 1, 2023

A deep dive into the safety of OnlyFans for creators and subscribers

The subscription-based social media OnlyFans has gained immense popularity over the past few years, especially during the pandemic. During this time, the platform has expanded to include a wide variety of content and attracted over 2M content creators. What makes OnlyFans unique is the ability for content creators to monetize their content. It is especially known for providing a platform for adult content whereby creators can offer exclusive access to their fans for a monthly fee as well as unlocking exclusive content in DMs.

We are going to break down the risk and safety aspects of OnlyFans from payments, scams, cyber security and privacy of creators and subscribers.

Is OnlyFans Safe to Use?

Yes, OnlyFans is a safe website to use for subscribers and creators as long as you are mindful of protecting your privacy and spending habits. OnlyFans is a regulated company and has to follow the legal guidelines of each country where it operates to keep its community safe. In the case of OnlyFans it is important to keep in mind that in comparison to other social media platforms, it comes with the additional features of paid content as well as adult content.

OnlyFans has implemented a selection of safety measures to the site for its users to have safe payment transactions, prevent privacy breaches with two-step verification and to prevent minors from accessing adult content. However, it is always advised to be cautious when it comes to the safety of your personal data when you are online (don’t share your real name, address or bank details with creators or fans). We have broken down below some of the questions about the safety of OnlyFans and a number of easy to follow tips on how to navigate Onlyfans safely.

OnlyFans Tweet About Safety

How does OnlyFans work?

If you are new to this world and considering becoming a creator or start following your favorite influencers, let us first give a quick overview of what OnlyFans is.

In some way, you can imagine OnlyFans as a hybrid of Instagram and YouTube where content creators can share photos, videos and DMs (text messages) with their audience. However, content on OnlyFans is only accessible to users when they subscribe to the influencer. Some accounts offer free subscriptions, while others have a subscription fee that typically ranges between $10 – $20 monthly.

Most content creators generate their income from pay-per-view content which ranges from pre-created videos and photos to live chatting and live shows. A large amount of OnlyFans creators share NSFW content ranging from nudes to adult content but you can also find SFW accounts covering topics around fitness, and music and some celebrities use it as a platform to connect with their fans.

How safe is OnlyFans really?

OnlyFans generally does a good job at keeping its users safe, but as a user you need to take some aspects of your safety and privacy into your own hands. Some of the risks that are in your control as a user are, whether you share personal information, click on links or subscribe to spammy accounts, none of which is advised. Below you can find a breakdown of each of these aspects and how to have a secure experience on OnlyFans.

Risks for OnlyFans Subscribers

We have listed below the most common risks subscribers face when using OnlyFans. Subscribers are more at risk of falling prey to phishing and payment risks, however, with a few safety precautions, we do not think that OnlyFans is less safe than other websites where you would purchase an online service.

Are payments safe on OnlyFans?

OnlyFans has standard safekeeping mechanisms such as 2-factor authentication in place to protect its users from their payment information being stolen and prevent others from logging in to their accounts. Your card details are stored by third-party companies that have to obey to payment security guidelines to keep your data safe. You might also be pleased to hear that OnlyFans keeps your payment information private from creators. Creators do not have access to view your payment details such as the name on your credit card. To subscribe to an account, you will need to add your credit/debit card details before you are able to subscribe, this does also apply to free accounts. For newbies on OnlyFans, we recommend for you to get a first taste of the type of content you can find on OF by checking out some free OnlyFans accounts. You won’t lose any money subscribing to these beauties and it is a great way to get accustomed to the platform.

Protecting your Privacy on OnlyFans as a Subscriber

There are some risks when using OnlyFans in terms of remaining anonymous, however, it is largely in your control. You might want to prevent people at work or in your private life from knowing that you are enjoying yourself on OnlyFans.com, which is perfectly understandable especially with some of these hot OnlyFans accounts around that can easily take away your attention from the mindless day-to-day of typing numbers in spreadsheets.

The most essential tip is to never share your legal name, address or bank details with anyone on OnlyFans, if they are asking you for this type of information, it is likely that they are trying to scam you.

To prevent your internet provider from knowing you are browsing OnlyFans, we recommend always browsing the internet with a VPN such as Express VPN, NordVPN and the like.

The sign-up process does not require you to add your legal name as a subscriber. What you will need to add is a valid email address, we recommend setting up a separate email address with providers such as ProtonMail where you can set up an email address that will not be linked to your everyday Gmail/Hotmail account.

To stay private we also recommend for you not use your legal name when creating your account name, as much as you might like for OnlyFans stars like Sky Bri or Rebecca More to call you by your full name when they send you lusty messages, an alias will help with keeping your account discreet.

Lastly, to prevent anyone from “accidentally” logging into your account, make sure you use a strong password. OnlyFans offers also multiple 2-step authentication methods, you can enable an authenticator app, sms verification or face ID, this will add an extra security layer to protect your account. You can find the 2-step authentication options under Settings -> Account -> Two-Step Authentication. Simply click on the toggle with your preferred option.

OnlyFans Two-Step Authentication

Phishing Risks on OnlyFans

Unfortunately, in some cases, fake accounts are going to lure you in with oftentimes stolen photos and ask you to click on a link for a “free video” or they will share a link that looks similar to an OnlyFans URL on another portal to hack your device. This can lead to your device being infected with malware that can download your personal information as well as put a virus on your device that will make it unusable. There are some basic cyber security risks to apply to prevent this from happening to you.

  1. Do not click on links sent to you in DMs by a creator on OnlyFans or on another social media site like Instagram or Reddit. If you found an interesting profile on an outside platform that you’d like to subscribe to on OnlyFans, we recommend you follow our guidelines on how to find someone on OnlyFans to subscribe to an account safely.
  2. Get antivirus software such as Avast on your iPhone, Android and PC. This will help to flag any malicious sites before you accidentally enter them.

Avoiding Scams on OnlyFans

Similar to the above, there are some accounts that are not honest with their subscribers and might offer them PPV content that turns out to be different from what was advertised. We have all heard the news about the most famous case of this when Bella Thorne advertised to sell nudes for $200 and she ended up not sending nudes in exchange for the payment. The best way to avoid scammers on OnlyFans is to read our review on the best OnlyFans to follow. We hand-select the accounts that we recommend and give an honest review about what they advertise in comparison to what they offer so you can get the biggest bang for your buck!

Risks for OnlyFans Creators

If you are wondering whether OnlyFans is safe for creators, the answer is yes but if you are a creator we advise you to be cautious if this is your first exposure to building an influencer profile. Many of the risks that OnlyFans creators could be facing such as harassment and privacy concerns are common also amongst YouTubers, Instagram models and TikTok stars, so if you are familiar with this, you will already know what to look out for. OnlyFans provides an additional risk that might not be as widespread as on other social media platforms but there are also risks of scams and leaks. If you are wondering about how to start and OnlyFans safely, we have broken down each risk for creators below and methods for safeguarding your content and your privacy.

Staying Anonymous as an OnlyFans Creator

If you are planning to start sharing some juicy NSFW content on OnlyFans and monetize your creativity and good looks, we are not here to tell you not to do it. However, it is important to be aware before starting your OnlyFans career that it is very unlikely you will be able to hide this from your family and friends if you wanted that. Due to the risks of leaks (more on this below) and chatty friends, OnlyFans will likely not stay a secret from your close ones. That being said, there are some further risks around your privacy that need to be taken seriously. You want to reduce the risk of anyone stalking you or trying to extract personal information from you.

A few steps we recommend for you to stay anonymous on OnlyFans are the following:

  1. Create a user name that is not your legal name & do not share private information. Spicy Angel is a good example of practicing this, she only shares her face with VIPs and has a username that does not give away any information about her but is still enticing for users.
  2. Blur your background if you are in a public place and remove any location-specific references such as Uni-degrees, sports medals or photos from your filming background. Ideally, you want to set up a shooting space that reveals as little information as possible about the city and state you are in.

Is there Harassment on OnlyFans?

Generally, most OnlyFans subscribers are harmless and can be quite fun to interact with, after all, they are your fan! However, as a creator, you are publicly sharing your content with all OnlyFans users and there have been instances of some users taking it too far and messaging creators offensively or inappropriately. OnlyFans made it easy in this case to block this user.

As a creator, you have a lot of control over your overall account settings for you to control how fans can reach out to you. You can set limits for who can DM you, you can turn off comments on your posts and you can set your profile to private so people cannot find it on OnlyFans anymore. Be aware though, even if the content is not visible on OnlyFans anymore, a link to your OnlyFans profile with your username can still be found on Google and on any other platforms like Reddit that link to your profile.

Leaks and Copyright Infringement of OnlyFans Content

One of the most common issues creators on OnlyFans face is leaked content. There are multiple ways creators’ content can be leaked. Malware could have been installed to scrape the content of your recording device or some users record the content on their screen and share it on leaks sites or other platforms like Reddit. This poses a problem for the monetization of content and it is very hard to safeguard against this as a creator. OnlyFans does offer creators to add a watermark to uploaded videos so when a video leaks it is clear that it is a case of copyright infringement. OnlyFans also has a copyrights team that creators can reach out to in such cases and there are also agencies that are specializing in copyrights to help detect and take down stolen content. We do recommend that creators install a security program like Avast on their laptops and phones to make themselves less vulnerable to malware attacks.

Promoter Scams on OnlyFans

It is a common practice on OnlyFans for content creators to recommend one another. This is in most cases not a friendly favor but a transaction that was made between the two creators. Creators either make agreements about recommending each other or creators with a larger following will take money to promote your account. There have been cases where these transactions were scams and the creators lost their money without getting the promotion they paid for. With promoter deals, it is important to ensure you are making the deal with a creator whose profile is public and you can see how previous promotions were done. We do not recommend buying promotions in bulk from multiple accounts as these packages tend to include a number of “worthless” promotions from accounts that do not have any real followers and the only purpose of them is to post promotions to other accounts. You want to look for a creator who has an active following and posts their own content on the side of promos for other accounts.

The verdict, is OnlyFans safe?

OnlyFans is a secure platform that can provide a lot of enjoyment and allows you to connect with your favorite influencers like no other platform. We do recommend following basic safety measures as in any other online space, such as not clicking on unverified links or sharing your personal details. If you are new to using OnlyFans, the best way to prevent subscribing to a spammy account is to check out some of our reviews of the most popular models on OnlyFans like Miss Katie, Naomi Foxxx or Neyleen Ashley to get a taste of OnlyFans’ finest accounts.

Staying Safe on OnlyFans FAQs

How can I stay safe on OnlyFans?

There are some simple ways you can increase your safety when using OnlyFans, whether you are a creator or a subscriber

  1. Do not share your personal data (name, address, bank details)
  2. Create a separate email address that does not mention your legal name to sign up to OnlyFans
  3. Use two-factor authentication to log in
  4. Do not click on suspicious links to avoid phishing risks
  5. Use a VPN when browsing online to hide your IP
  6. Subscribe to (paid) accounts that have a genuine recommendation, such as you can find on OnlyReviewer

Generally, OnlyFans is a safe platform to use but as with anything on the Internet, it is good to be cautious.

Who can join OnlyFans?

Anyone above the age of 18 can sign up to OnlyFans.

To sign up, you need an email address to sign up and confirm your account. As a user, you will need to add your credit/debit card details before you can subscribe to any account (even if the account is free to subscribe to). Creators have to be 18 years and above. This is verified by uploading a valid ID, AI face scan that confirms the validity of the ID and bank account details.

Are OnlyFans creators verified?

OnlyFans creators are verified with their valid ID and bank account details. There is no official verification in terms of whether the content advertised is what you will receive in the DMs, which is why we suggest looking for recommendations for top OnlyFans models to follow on OnlyReviewer that have been tested for their quality of content and their spiciness.

Is OnlyFans safe for debit card payments?

Yes, OnlyFans is safe for debit card payments. OnlyFans works with third-party payment providers that are verified under local laws and have to oblige to the same rules as every other online payment provider. We encourage you to use 2-factor authentication when making online payments to ensure your card payments are safe.

Is OnlyFans safe for credit card payments?

Yes, OnlyFans is safe for credit card payments. OnlyFans uses verified third-party payment providers to ensure transactions on their platform are safe. On your credit card statement, it will not say what accounts you have purchased content from and what the content you bought entails. It will say “OnlyFans” on your statement.

Can I get refunds on OnlyFans?

No, there are generally no refunds for digital items such as PPV content and subscriptions. This is why we recommend subscribing to verified and OnlyReviewer recommended models. OnlyReviewer reviews each model with the utmost care so you can get the best experience for your taste and kinks.

There are very limited refund options for physical items purchased on OnlyFans in case you received a damaged item or the wrong item. In this case, reach out to OnlyFans customer service to find out whether you are eligible for a refund.

Is OnlyFans legal?

OnlyFans is legal in most countries, including the United States. To safely and legally use the platform, it’s important for all users and creators to follow the terms outlined in the OnlyFans user agreement. This includes adhering to copyright laws, avoiding the use of illegal substances in content, and refraining from engaging in any illegal activities while using the platform.

Author

ERIN LORDY
CHIEF ONLYREVIEWER SCOUT
Erin Lordy
Erin serves as our Chief Scout for OnlyFans models, and she is in charge of conducting extensive research to find the top accounts on the platform. As a result of this work, she has developed a deep understanding of how to use OnlyFans effectively, making her an expert in the field. Her expertise has been channeled into creating detailed OnlyFans guides, which she writes for OnlyReviewer.com.