Child Appears On eBay Auction Site

A Michigan woman is under investigation for allegedly auctioning off a two-year-old girl on eBay, Sky News reports.

According to police, another eBay user posted a $1,000 bid for the child, thinking the auction was a fake, and contacted authorities when the bid was accepted.

The woman believed to be responsible for the listing was babysitting the child for her cousin and claims that the auction wasn't serious. She said that she created the post, which was titled "kid for sale" and included a photo of the child, to test an eBay feature she had never used before.

"It was just a joke, that's all, you are all taking it way too seriously and blowing it way out of proportion," said the woman, according to Sky News. "I thought well wouldn't it be funny, seeing as I have all these pictures of her on my computer to put her on there.

"At this juncture," stated Lieutenant Mark Bennett of the Ottawa county sheriff's department, "we really do not believe the child was actually going to be exchanged. We are probably talking more about a false pretense situation."

Tracy Cromwell, who posted the $1,000 bid, said that she contacted police because she wanted the child's name and photograph removed from eBay.

"Once I clicked on got the info, I could easily track her down, had her name and phone number and information, I could have gone to look for her," Cromwell told WWMT.

The child has been returned to her mother in Montana, writes 41NBC

[via Digital Life]