Mum puts kids on ebay 'as a joke'
An auction of two children under ten set up by their mother "as a joke" is under investigation by police.
The Geelong woman allegedly put photos of her son and daughter, both under ten, and wrote a "lengthy sales pitch," the Herald Sun reported.
Members of the public alerted the police to the page, where a number of bids had already been made on the children.
The page has since been taken down, and Victorian police decided against pressing charges against the woman.
The mother claims the page was a joke.
The children have since been taken into care, and the mother could lose them permanently.
"Investigators from Geelong were notified last week that a mother was trying to sell her two children on eBay," a Victoria Police spokeswoman said.
"Photos of the children, a boy and a girl both aged under 10 years, were included in the sales pitch."
Police were also disturbed by the number of serious bids placed in the auction. They will investigate the bidders.
"The mother wrote a lengthy sales pitch that was very interesting reading," a police source said.
"She said the page was created as a joke, but what worries us is the people bidding on the auction. Who knows who these people are. They could be paedophiles or anyone. It's extremely disturbing."
The woman faced charges and up to 12 months in jail, but police accepted her claim that the auction page was just a joke.
