Celebrity fury as naked snaps 'hacked and posted online'

Celebrities including Hollywood actress Jennifer Lawrence have threatened to take legal action after hundreds naked snaps of them were hacked and reportedly posted online.

A spokesman for the Hunger Games actress confirmed the images of her are genuine and said: "This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence.”

The hacker is now allegedly threatening to publish an explicit video of her online if internet users pay enough money.

American actress Kate Upton is also threatening to sue after intimate pictures of her emerged online.

Her spokesman told MailOnline: "This is obviously an outrageous violation of our client Kate Upton's privacy. We intend to pursue anyone disseminating or duplicating these illegally obtained images to the fullest extent possible."

British stars such as Kelly Brook are also believed to have been caught up in the scandal. But a spokesman for her declined to comment.

The images are said to have been obtained through Apple's iCloud service before being published on image sharing forum 4chan.

Other stars who have spoken out on it include American actress Mary E. Winstead, who starred in the Final Destination films.

Confirming the images were real she tweeted:

American actress and former child star Victoria Justice also took to Twitter to say the snaps purporting to be her were fake.

A statement from a spokesman for US singer Ariana Grande told Buzzfeed: “The photos are completely fake."