Investigation opened in France into child trafficking suspicions via Vinted
The Nantes public prosecutor's office has opened a preliminary investigation into listings suspected of concealing child trafficking on the Vinted platform, following reports from internet users on social media.
Investigation opened in France into child trafficking suspicions via Vinted
The Nantes public prosecutor's office has ordered a preliminary investigation to examine listings linked to suspicions of child trafficking on the Vinted platform. The case has been assigned to the Central Office for the Protection of Minors (Ofmin).
The suspicions emerged following posts by internet users on social media, who reported listings they deemed unusual. These advertisements concerned toys or apparently low-value items being offered at extremely high prices, whilst mentioning ages and sizes that the reporters believed corresponded to young children.
The matter gained considerable attention, particularly on TikTok, where content creators argued that elements such as a price of €30,000 for a Harry Potter figurine, combined with mentions such as "13 years" and "1.58 m", could constitute coded messages linked to child trafficking.
France's ombudsman for children's rights, Sarah El Haïry, announced on Tuesday that she had informed the competent authorities about suspicious accounts involved in child trafficking networks via Vinted, after having previously contacted the Pharos reporting platform and the regulator Arcom.
On Thursday, a 20 Minutes article was described as "backward" by the ombudsman. The newspaper had reported that a journalist had conversed with a man claiming to be selling a young girl through an apparently innocent listing. However, the newspaper corrected its article on Friday, clarifying that it was a 17-year-old secondary school student who had published the content with the stated aim of trapping "paedophiles".
To date, the public prosecutor's office has not clarified whether any of the listings proved to be substantiated. Several sellers identified in the related videos told the French investigative bureau that their listings genuinely concerned toys.
For its part, Vinted stated that it had examined the listings in question and found no elements linking them to child trafficking activities. The company clarified that the age mentioned in the listings referred to the target age range of the toy, whilst the particularly high prices were explained either by the collectible value of certain items, or by provocative posts or negotiation strategies.
The platform emphasised that it applied a zero-tolerance policy towards any inappropriate content and intervened whenever a suspicious listing was identified, in order to be able to cooperate with law enforcement when necessary.
Source: Philenews