Glamorous Instagram influencer auctions her virginity to raise money for frontline workers

An Instagram influencer has sparked outrage after she offered to sell off her virginity for more than £100,000 to raise money for coronavirus frontline workers.

Indonesian influencer Sarah Salsabila, who goes by Sarah Keihl on Instagram, reportedly made the offer in a video where she said she was willing to auction off her virginity with a starting price of £110,035.

She said in the video: "A pretty tough decision in my life. Maybe some of you understand this, but I’ve decided I’ll do so to raise funds to help those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic."

Sarah said that the proceeds of the auction would go to Covid-19 health workers and those affected financially by the pandemic.

She reportedly told her 232,000 followers that the auction would begin at 9pm Indonesian time on Wednesday.

The influencer reportedly faced a backlash from users in Indonesia and has now said the auction was not real but just a piece of "satire" aimed at people not taking coronavirus seriously enough.

Explaining the stunt, she said: "I’m sorry for creating the controversy.

"In truth, the virginity auction was my idea of satire of those who aren’t sensitive to the situation."

She said she and her family have been receiving abuse over her post so she offered to pay for 1,000 bags of grocery aid as an apology, adding that the money is "halal" and that she had "never sold myself or my dignity".

She added: "I’m really sorry for all the inconvenience caused.

"I didn’t mean to come up with such degrading post and I didn’t even mean to sell off my virginity in the first place."