Mastercard and Visa are facing accusations of enabling payments for child sexual abuse content and sex trafficking on the social media platform OnlyFans, according to a whistleblower complaint filed with the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Unit (FinCEN).
The complaint, filed by a senior financial compliance expert, alleges that the payment networks failed to stop funds from being laundered through illegal content on OnlyFans. The whistleblower claims that Mastercard and Visa were aware that their networks were being used to pay for such content but chose to “turn a blind eye to flows of illicit revenue,” according to Reuters.
FinCEN stated that it does not comment on submissions to its whistleblower program, including whether it has received submissions about specific financial institutions. A spokesperson added that FinCEN also does not comment on investigations.
Visa responded by stating that it “explicitly and unequivocally prohibits illegal activity on our network and condemns all forms of sexual abuse.” The company emphasized that it maintains strict compliance requirements for financial institutions and merchants. Those who fail to comply are terminated from the Visa network.
Mastercard also stated that it has “zero tolerance for illegal activity on our network.” The company added that no evidence of current illegal activity has been provided to them.
The whistleblower complaint was filed in January 2023 with FinCEN and the US Justice and Homeland Security departments. The whistleblower and other anti-trafficking experts had previously alerted Mastercard and Visa about unlawful content on OnlyFans in 2021 and 2022, according to the report.
In 2021, OnlyFans announced it would reduce sexually explicit content following requests from banking partners and financial transaction companies. However, the company reversed this decision shortly afterward due to backlash from some creators and users.
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