International student in UK wants to be a cam girl secretly

[Hyj]

My friend is a non EU international student in the UK and she wants to stream. It seems that international students are not allowed to work as freelancers in the UK but if she does it secretly and cautiously (like not letting anyone know, block British viewers from her streaming site ect.) and make the site send the income to her home bank account in her home country would anyone find out? Are there other ways for anyone to find out about it at all?

 

[englishmuffins]

Anything that is put out on the internet, stays on the internet… forever.

Which means someone may and will find out. When? who knows. This is not a job that you can do and think that you can be 100% anonymous. Anonymity does not exist in this industry.

If she is not willing to take that risk, then she should reconsider streaming. That even goes with her being on a SFW site like twitch or YouTube.

I’d recommend she do more research about camming and the risks involved. This forum and several YouTube videos about camming are great places for her to start.

 

[SMuser69]

Understand there are both risks on and off camera for cam models. Your friend would be put themselves in a position where they could get their visa revoked if they got caught and it's naïve to believe EVERYONE in your social circle are understanding or will do their best to keep this secret if it does get out. There are models here that have stories of even their own family doing very damning things when they find out a relative is a cam model. Your friend can open themselves to blackmail, fines, jail, deportation. It's a lot of risk for a few extra dollars a week verse what they have already paid or will gain from their education.

If your friend even felt they couldn't make an account and ask themselves but instead, delegated this to you, I doubt this is a secret that is going to be maintain as seriously as the risks might be. A college campus is LAST place on earth I would consider a place to hide anything personal, it all comes out at some point.

 

[Hyj]

My friend is a non EU international student in the UK and she wants to stream. It seems that international students are not allowed to work as freelancers in the UK but if she does it secretly and cautiously (like not letting anyone know, block British viewers from her streaming site ect.) and make the site send the income to her home bank account in her home country would anyone find out? Are there other ways for anyone to find out about it at all?

She lives alone and never brings anyone home so literally no one will know.

 

[Sunshineseeker]

You're asking for advice on how to help someone break the law. As you've said it's against the terms of her visa, it's also illegal to work in the UK and not declare that income. As SMuser69 mentioned the consequences are numerous so it'd be a very risky route to do something that may or may not be lucrative and could affect her whole future.

 

[CheeseMoon]

[...] and make the site send the income to her home bank account in her home country would anyone find out? Are there other ways for anyone to find out about it at all?

Because of money laundering, currency smuggling and anti corruption laws, banks are usually required to report transactions with certain attributes to the authorities. If she starts making (for lack of a better word) too much money, someone will start asking questions. Understand that tax authorities will stop at nothing to have what they consider lawfully theirs. "I was young and needed the money" isn't a very good defense when the authorities come bearing down on you.

It's a shit attitude anyway, to take advantage of public and private infrastructure paid for by someone else to earn illegal income.

 

[Sashacurves]

I think issues of being discovered and outed by peers in the new country aside, you'd probably have legality problems in your own country that you couldn't really sneak around.

For example as a British citizen, if I started camming outside of the UK secretly and sending the income to my UK bank account, I should be paying tax on that income in the UK. So, I'd have to either lie on my self assessment tax forms about my country of residence or try to get away without declaring my earnings at all, both of which are obviously illegal. And of course there's probably a high chance of getting away with it (depending on how much I'd be earning). But, there's nothing you're really going to be able to do to hide it except just hoping you don't get randomly audited or something.

And that's assuming you've also successfully gotten away with sneaking around the rules and hiding it from peers in the country you're studying in.

 

[MallorieReese]

If I were, I would rather not do it. Especially since the UK officially left the EU, they are being more cautious when it comes to immigrants and stuff like that.
To work legally, she needs a pre-settled or settled status because she HAS to declare her income - it's not an option, but rather a necessity. The last thing she needs/wants is to be deported - especially since she is a full-time student at a UK university.

Not my business, but the tuition fees for UK universities are up to 10k/year, so I suppose her family has a lot of money - why does she want to cam?

 

[Hyj]

Because of money laundering, currency smuggling and anti corruption laws, banks are usually required to report transactions with certain attributes to the authorities. If she starts making (for lack of a better word) too much money, someone will start asking questions. Understand that tax authorities will stop at nothing to have what they consider lawfully theirs. "I was young and needed the money" isn't a very good defense when the authorities come bearing down on you.

It's a shit attitude anyway, to take advantage of public and private infrastructure paid for by someone else to earn illegal income.

OK but as I said the money will be sent from her streaming site which is located in the US directly to her home country Bank account, any banks in the UK will never be involved. So this isn't an issue then I guess

 

[tokensarentforkids]

OK but as I said the money will be sent from her streaming site which is located in the US directly to her home country Bank account, any banks in the UK will never be involved. So this isn't an issue then I guess

no idea how the UK works, but she may have to prove she is not poor for a visa, or prove that she is poor for some student assistance and need to show bank statements

 

[CheeseMoon]

OK but as I said the money will be sent from her streaming site which is located in the US directly to her home country Bank account, any banks in the UK will never be involved. So this isn't an issue then I guess

Banks in the UK does not matter, no, but if the incoming transfers are large enough and/or frequent enough, they may very well be flagged in her home country's bank. Depends on how anal the legislation is there.
If she wants to work outside the law, she should be prepared to be considered an outlaw.

The obvious solution here is of course cryptocurrency ...

 

[englishmuffins]

I think the obvious answer is that it’s far too risky and the consequences outweigh any hopeful scenarios, so no. It’s potentially illegal, and she should be asking if she is serious about this venture of camming, not a liaison.

If someone doesn’t understand the risks, the legality, the financial complexities and the compliances that are needed, they shouldn’t take on camming.

Some sites will display your country AND WON’T change it because it is what’s on the passport/id info. Yeah she can geoblock the UK while streaming but that doesn’t prevent users in the UK from using a VPN to see her.

“She lives alone and no one visits, so no one will know…” yeah Fucking right that is naive thinking. SOMEONE WILL KNOW.

Cam sites are under strict scrutiny and compliances and they take that seriously, no funny business. Any of the situations you have posed so far in the thread aren’t sound for what she is trying to do. As Cheese mentioned, cryptocurrency and being indie is likely the only option but that’s very very risky.

 

[AudriTwo]

She lives alone and never brings anyone home so literally no one will know.

 

[yummybrownfox]

You posted a thread asking a question ("Would anyone find out?"). People answered you with good advice, and you're responding with "Literally no one will know." So why did you even ask? Don't ignore what people here are telling you. And your friend should be doing her own research on this stuff. After all, it's her life we're talking about here.

 

[Marceline]

This is the fourth thread OP has made concerning taxes. Third one where they're asking about paying taxes in a different country/sending money to a different country than where they are camming from.

Just pointing that out, because at this point it's becoming sketchy and sounding more and more like a blatant tax evasion or money laundering scheme.

 

[Jenna K]

She can try to be a "no face" model.

 

[InAweOfCB]

She can try to be a "no face" model.

Agreed, then her main worry would be some model origin-tracing software that might trip her up financially.


INSTEAD OF the main worry being online porn websites pirating her transmissions and displaying them until she's 45 (or 75) with her being easily identified by her eventual children and grand children, etc.


BUT IF she has all of the described ducks in a row... money generated in the USA, and sent to her home country... she (probably) should be paying taxes on it in the home country (if not also in the U.K.)...


she might be able to sneak through all of the obstacles without being found out.


But the upside is minimal, and the risk is probably too great for the upside.