Doctor Foster star Suranne Jones has been caught up in a disturbing fake porn scam, with internet fraudsters taking advantage of the actress's soaring popularity to attract visitors to their site.
Suranne's head has been superimposed onto a number of female porn stars' bodies. These images are on a adult site that advertises escorts, webcam strippers and ‘sexy local girls'.
The pictures surfaced this week, coinciding with the screening of Suranne's Doctor Foster character, Gemma, taking part in a sex scene. The sex scene prompted an outburst of comments on social media, with fans praising Suranne's performance and character. ‘Go girl. You get over Simon', one twitter user wrote, while another called the scene 'unbelievable'.
But shockingly, the positive attention Suranne has enjoyed for her role has been channelled into something darker, which sources say Suranne would be "horrified" to be part of.
Talking to the The Daily Star a source said: "Suranne would be horrified at the stuff that is linked to her name.
"Sadly, that's the nature of the internet these days."
Suranne as Gemma Foster in the BBC show
Unfortunately, this is not the first incident of its kind. There is a growing history of established actresses and TV presenters being targeted by fake porn rings for profit. Only earlier this year, Alex Jones, presenter of The One Show, was left furious after fake topless photos of her were published online. And Emma Watson, Alice Jones and Fifty Shades of Grey star Dakota Johnson are just a handful of the other stars who have also been victims of porn scams recently.
On reading the news about Suranne Jones on The Sun's website one reader stated, ‘I doubt there is a female on tv who hasn't had this done to them'.
Some celebrities have spoken out about their personal experiences of dealing with this. Miriam O'Callaghan, an Irish TV presenter, became the victim of the fake porn industry in October last year. She's been candid about how she felt powerless during the incident.
"The big problem is that those images are out there in the online world, without us knowing, and there's so little you can actually do about it right now," she told the Herald.
And Rachel Allen, a TV chef who was also a victim of a fake porn scam, has called for harsher measures to be put in place for those who commit these acts. The TV chef said: "On a serious level, there absolutely needs to be laws."