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Online marketplace Vinted says it has removed sexually explicit adverts, after a mum reported seeing a video depicting what she believed to be a pornographic scene while browsing for clothes.

Kirsty Hopley, 44, from Carlisle, said she was searching the app for a dressing gown when the ad popped up.

She was sitting next to her teenage daughter at the time.

Ms Hopley reported the content to Vinted and later contacted Ofcom.

She told BBC News the video, which started playing automatically, showed a “sickening” graphic and violent sexual encounter.

The law and criminology teacher said she had installed content filters on her home internet and was shocked to see such material on the e-commerce platform.

“I probably won’t buy anything from there again, which is disappointing as I love Vinted,” she said. “But I don’t want to see content like that.”

The platform, which has no age restrictions, has recently faced scrutiny in France after reports that some sellers were using the site to direct users to adult content.

The advert Ms Hopley saw was promoting DramaWave, a mobile app that produces short-form scripted stories for social platforms.

Many of their series appear to follow romance storylines over multiple episodes of just a few minutes each.

Vinted said the adverts have now been blocked.

A spokesperson said the platform has a “zero-tolerance policy for unsolicited sexual communications and the promotion of sexual content”.

“This includes prohibiting sexually explicit advertisements on our platform,” they said.

“Where listings or ads are found to violate these rules, we will take action, including blocking or removing them.”

The BBC has approached DramaWave for comment.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) told BBC News their rules were clear “that ads must not cause harm or offence”.

“Harmful or degrading portrayals of women in ads are completely unacceptable, and we take a zero-tolerance approach to this kind of content,” they said in a statement.

They added: “We encourage anyone with concerns about an ad they’ve seen to get in touch.”

Ms Hopley told BBC News she expected the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA), which includes laws to protect children from explicit content online, to have prevented such material appearing on her phone.

However the only paid-for advertising that is in scope of the OSA is fraudulent content.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has arrested two men as it launched an investigation into a suspected £20m cryptocurrency fraud.

The law enforcement agency raided two sites in West Yorkshire and London as it appealed for information about $28m (£21.4m) invested into a cryptocurrency scheme called Basis Markets.

Two men, one in his 30s and another in his 40s, were arrested on suspicion of multiple fraud and money-laundering offences, the agency said.

Basis Markets, which the SFO described as a “suspected fraudulent scheme” and is not a company, is said to have raised millions of pounds via two public fundraisers in November and December 2021, stating it would use the cash to create a “crypto hedge fund”.

Six months after the fundraisings in June 2022, investors are alleged to have been informed that proposed new US regulations were preventing the project from proceeding as planned. The SFO’s investigation is thought to be focusing on this announcement as well as what became of the investors’ money.

Nick Ephgrave, director of the SFO, said: “With our expanding crypto currency capability and growing expertise in this area, we are determined to pursue anyone who would seek to use cryptocurrency to defraud investors.

“Today’s action is an important step in our investigation, and we’re urging anyone with information to come forward and support our inquiries.”

The agency said the investigation is the first major cryptocurrency case announced by the SFO and it comes after the law enforcement body secured additional funds to invest in its crypto capabilities earlier this year.

In June, the SFO said it had been granted more than £8m of extra funding over the next three years that would strengthen its “ability to recover criminal assets, including crypto assets, wherever they may be.”

The Guardian has attempted to contact Basis Markets.