A remote control listed for €20,000 and a toy priced far above its value. Ages outlined in product descriptions. For social media users in France and Germany, claims that children are being sold on Vinted have gone viral.
The Lithuanian-founded online second-hand marketplace has grown rapidly in recent years, particularly in France, where it has surpassed Amazon as the country's leading clothing retailer.
The allegations, driven largely by TikTok videos, Reddit threads and unverified screenshots of unusual listings, claim that traffickers are disguising children as ordinary products sold on the app, using inflated prices and coded descriptions.
One French content creator posted a TikTok video that has been liked more than 900,000 times, pointing to a screenshot claiming to sell a plush toy for €30,000.
“And once again, the buyer has to collect it in person. It's happening right in front of us," the TikToker says in the video. "These are the coded listings they use: they'll post an ordinary item at an outrageously high price, then hide small clues in the description to show if it's a boy or a girl, their weight, et cetera."
