The Chinese state-run People’s Daily Online reported on March 9 that a couple from the southeast Fujian province sold their 18-day baby girl to an unknown buyer who purpotedly procured the infant for his sister on the social media site QQ for $3530 (23000 yuan).

The father A Duan reportedly spents his time mostly hopping in and out of internet cafes while the mother Xiao Mei works at numerous part-time jobs to eke out a living.

With the money from his infant daughter’s sale, the dad had apparently planned to buy an iPhone and a motorbike.

Just 19 at the time, both parents were supposedly in a perpetual financial crunch which prompted them to traffic their newborn from an unwanted pregnancy to get their hands on some worldly goods they desired.

The police managed to track down the parents after they fled and Duan was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment while the mother received a two and a half year suspended sentence.

Being an adopted child herself, Mei claims she did not know the said act was illegal.

Reports estimate that almost two lakh children are kidnapped and openly sold online in China with the authorities remaining a mute spectator.