After Wayfair, Amazon accused of child trafficking as e-commerce giant lists pillows for as much as $10,000
After Wayfair, the internet is now accusing Amazon of trafficking children in the guise of overpriced items listed on their website. The global e-commerce giant sparked a series of claims and conspiracy theories after appearing to sell kids in the name of extremely overpriced household items such as pillows, fixtures, etc.
The Wayfair child trafficking scandal theory gained traction after a Redditor shared screenshots of not-so-justified prices on goods such as curtains, cabinets, pillows, etc, and linked the names of the items to children who went missing in 2020. Observers accused Wayfair of kidnapping and selling children under the guise of the heavily priced products, which would not be purchased by everyday shoppers unless someone knew exactly what the retailer was selling.
The American furniture retailer issued a statement denying the allegations after having taken down the controversial listings. "There is, of course, no truth to these claims," a spokeswoman said. "The products in question are industrial grade cabinets that are accurately priced. Recognizing that the photos and descriptions provided by the supplier did not adequately explain the high price point, we have temporarily removed the products from the site to rename them and to provide a more in-depth description and photos that accurately depict the product to clarify the price point."
That said, both Amazon and Wayfair are in the same boat, facing allegations of trafficking after people began noticing an apparent pattern on their platforms selling a wide variety of products at exorbitant rates.
Amazon, currently the largest e-commerce player in the world, is accused of using its platform as a front for human trafficking. Area rugs or carpets are allegedly being sold for "$21,000+ dollars, pillows for $10,000+ dollars, drawer table for $16,000+ dollars, etc." -- thereby raising suspicions among many conspiracy theorists, per The Courier Daily.
Nonetheless, Twitter was taken by storm after the allegations surfaced.
"Forget Jada and will. Amazon and Wayfair just got caught SELLING KIDS!!!" one wrote.
"Gen Z is LITERALLY figuring out how Wayfair, Amazon, and Etsy are sex trafficking via their online stores!!! THIS FUCKING GENERATION YALL. Let’s fucking goooooo," another tweeted.
"Yall need to boycott WAYFAIR, AMAZON, EBAY, and WALMART for engaging in HUMAN SEX TRAFFICKING! Selling little fucking kids online disguising it as furniture!! but you’d rather boycott GOYA for supporting trump..wake uppp!!" a third added.
"Hey, @JeffBezos do you want to explain for us why Amazon is selling a $10,000 pillow from a manufacturer that doesn’t exist ... with reviews that cryptically refer to what seemingly sounds like the sex trafficking of children? Lmk," another chimed in.
The allegations stem from the fact that Amazon was selling normal products that should not cost thousands of dollars as they are listed for. However, the claims made by the social media users have yet to be presented with evidence outside screenshots of the company's high-priced items with human names. Meanwhile, Amazon is yet to comment on the outrage.
MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) couldn't independently confirm the validity of the allegations that social media users made and doesn't share any responsibility for the said statements.