How stars of Love Island, Netflix and TikTok are being lured into organised crime gangs by promise of fast money and ‘glamorous’ jet-setting lifestyles [Video]

11:05 EST 23 Dec 2024, updated 11:09 EST 23 Dec 2024

Increasing numbers of influencers and TV personalities are being tempted into drug smuggling by the promise of fast money when they prove unable to turn their social media following into cash, experts told MailOnline today. 

While thousands seek to portray a luxury lifestyle online, monetising even hundreds of thousands of followers can prove difficult.  

A star of dating show Too Hot to Handle is the latest onscreen celebrity to fall foul of the law after being arrested at Manchester Airport with 40kg of cannabis worth £150,000. 

Olga Bednarska, 27, who carried the haul from Thailand in two large suitcases before she was stopped at customs, avoided prison with a 20-month suspended sentence.

She is only the most recent of a string of high-profile figures in the world of showbiz and social media who have become involved in drug trafficking in the hope of funding their lavish lifestyles. 

Influencers with up …