BBC Eye and BBC News Brasil investigate Instagram influencer ...

When two young Brazilian women were reported missing in September 2022, their families and the FBI launched a desperate search across the US to find them. All that the families knew was that they were living somewhere with wellness influencer Kat Torres.

Former Brazilian model, wellness influencer and spiritual life-coach, Kat Torres, was an inspiration and a lifeline to women all over the world. More than a million people on Instagram followed her extraordinary career trajectory from extreme poverty in Brazil to a European modelling career and a life of luxury in the US.

Torres’ wellness website and subscription service promised customers: “Love, money and self-esteem that you always dreamed of.” Self-help videos offered advice on relationships, wellness, business success and spirituality. For an extra payment her clients could get exclusive one-to-one video consultations during which she would claim to solve any of their problems.

In Like, Follow, Trafficked: Insta’s Fake Guru, a team of journalists from BBC World Service's BBC Eye Investigations and BBC News Brasil reveal that, behind the perfectly curated posts, there was a story of witchcraft, sexual exploitation and human trafficking. They uncover a wellness empire built on half-truths and lies, talk to Kat Torres’ former clients, and tell the story of her followers who paid a heavy price.

Like, Follow, Trafficked: Insta’s Fake Guru is a fascinating story of the woman who partied with Leonardo DiCaprio and graced the covers of international magazines – and who groomed her followers and lured young women into sexual exploitation. The BBC documentary leads the viewer to meet Kat Torres behind the walls of a Brazilian prison, and to hear first-hand from the self-proclaimed “guru” who used to exert absolute control.

In Kat Torres’ own words: “You choose to believe whatever you choose to believe. I can tell you I’m Jesus. And you can see Jesus, or you can see the devil, that’s it. It’s your choice. It’s your mind.”

Kat Torres denied the allegations put to her by the BBC. Her lawyer told the BBC that Kat Torres has appealed her conviction and that she maintains her innocence.

Like, Follow, Trafficked: Insta’s Fake Guru, from the BBC World Service, is available for viewing in the UK – via BBC iPlayer – and internationally, on the BBC World Service YouTube channel. The podcast, Instagram’s Fake Guru, will be available on BBC Sounds. It will be broadcast on BBC World Service from Thursday 18 July 2024. The Portuguese-language version of the documentary is available via the BBC News Brasil YouTube channel. Read the story on the BBC News website – via bbc.co.uk in the UK; and internationally – on BBC.com, BBC Studios global digital news platform.

Like, Follow, Trafficked: Insta’s Fake Guru, is produced and narrated by Hannah Price

Producer and director: Jack Garland

Producer and BBC News Brasil reporter: João Fellet

Executive producer: Vara Szajkowski

Head of Longform: Liz Gibbons

LN