A 1-month-old baby was posted for sale on eBay by her parents
The listing was posted by a couple from Germany, and was titled "Child, 40 days old named Maria for sale." The listing had pictures of the baby wearing different outfits.
A number of peculiar things have been sold before on eBay. This time however, a couple created an eBay listing wherein they tried selling their child for 5000 euros.
It was taken down after 30 minutes
The listing was posted by a couple from Germany, and was titled "‘Child, 40 days old named Maria for sale." The listing had pictures of the baby wearing different outfits.
The listing was taken down by the website within 30 minutes, and police have launched an investigation after they were tipped off about the listing, seeing it as a potential case of human trafficking.
The girl, who was 40 days old, has been given to child protection officers.
They parents were refugees
According to an investigation, the child's parents were refugees living in West Germany. They added that the listing was posted using the couple's internet connection, but they are still investigating the case as the connection was also used by other members of the family.
They added that the connection wasn't secure, so there was also a possibility that the connection was used by their neighbors, and that an investigation will be conducted further.
There have been hoaxes before
A spokesperson from eBay, Pierre Du Bois, said that "We received a lot of complaints from users and we immediately pursued the matter. In such a case, we provide the authorities with all available information." As screenshots of the listing also became viral online, and shared on different social networking sites.
He also adds that there have been different hoaxes before, including bad jokes as well as attempts to defraud users of the site. He adds, "We immediately ban these providers. We have specially trained teams which keep track on such cases and quickly react,’ he said."
Preventing human trafficking
While we can't be sure if the eBay listing for the baby is serious or not, the fact that members of the site reported the illegal listing is very important. Actions such as that, can help save lives, whether we're aware of it or not. And an important aspect of preventing human trafficking is to know more about it.
Here are some things that you need to know about human trafficking:
- Human trafficking, in a nutshell, is slavery. A lot of experts call human trafficking modern-day slavery, and they're not wrong. Both exploit people for profit, and the victims are abused.
- It can happen where you live. Not all stories about human trafficking happen in poor countries. Human traffickers are everywhere and it doesn't choose anyone.
- It happens to anyone, even people like you. Anyone can be a victim of human trafficking. Human traffickers don't discriminate, and even adults, both male and female, can be victims.
- Some of the food you eat, the clothes you wear, and things that you use everyday can be a product of human trafficking. A lot of the time, human traffickers force their victims to work to produce the things that we use everyday. Shoes, clothes, food, you name it, it might be possibly made by victims. Go to this website to learn more.
- We can end human trafficking. By working together, we can end human trafficking in our lifetime. A lot of organizations such as Change.org are trying to end human trafficking, and they need our help.
Sources: Straits Times, ITV, Metro, thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com