A baby girl was put up for sale on eBay with a variety of photos showing her sleeping in different outfits.
Police are investigating after the one-month-old infant, called Maria, was listed with an asking price of 5,000 euros (around £4,510).
According to the listing, which was taken down by the auction site within half an hour, Maria lives in the city of Duisburg in western Germany’s state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
BERLIN - Police in the western German city of Duisburg say they're investigating the parents of a 40-day-old girl on allegations they were trying to sell their infant daughter on eBay.
Duisburg police said Thursday that the baby was listed on the internet auction site on Tuesday for a price of 5,000 euros ($5,500). In a raid of the parents' apartment on Wednesday evening they were able to seize evidence suggesting the posting was made from their internet connection.
Authorities say other members of the family also had access to the connection, however.
The seller titled the advert: ‘Child, 40 days old named Maria for sale.'
It included photographs of the dark-haired baby wearing a variety of sleep suits.
While the post was swiftly removed by eBay within 30 minutes of being uploaded, it wasn't long before the listing was circulated around the world.
Hours later, it had been shared both on social media and parenting and Internet forums across the globe.
In a statement, eBay spokesman, Pierre DuBois, said that eBay removed the listing and alerted the police as soon as they became aware of the situation.
'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.'
Mr. DuBois added that eBay suffers many hoax listings online, but said: 'We immediately ban these providers.'
'We have specially trained teams which keep track on such cases and quickly react.'
The parents, described by police only as "refugees," have been taken in for questioning on suspicion of human trafficking.
How do you feel about this story? Harmless prank or sinister family out to make a quick buck?
