Xbox Live Prank Puts Two-Year-Old On Sale

[Keane Ng]

Xbox Live Prank Puts Two-Year-Old On Sale

Some malicious prankster on Xbox Live sent messages to users all over the U.S. advertising the sale of a woman's two-year-old daughter. They even offered free shipping.

"I don't find anything funny about it," Christa Manos, the mother of the girl put "on sale" in the prank, told the Charlotte Sun [http://www.sunnewspapers.net/articles/pnnews.aspx?NewsID=433357&a=newsarchive2/031109/ch1.htm&pnpg=0]. "When I saw it, I wanted to hurt someone."

The message advertised the sale of a two-year-old girl and listed Manos' phone number for interested parties to call and jokingly offered free shipping.

In the days since the message first made its way around Xbox Live, Manos has received a number of phone calls from XBL members all over the country who weren't interested in buying her kid, but wanted to berate her for being a bad mother. Who knew that XBL folks cared about parenting? As can be expected from Xbox Live users, some just called her up to curse her out. "By the 18th or 19th call, I knew something wasn't right," Manos said.

The police have gotten involved and are investigating the matter, and have said that the perpetrator could face charges of criminal use of information. Considering they knew Manos' phone number and that she has a kid, it's most likely someone she knows and who has some sort of beef with her - Manos herself says she's got a pretty good idea who's responsible (and no I'm not implying it was Major Nelson, if that's what you're thinking based on the image).

[Via Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5167933/two+year+old-girl-offered-for-sale-over-xbox-live]]

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[Zer_]

Hey I'm laughing at this, am I a bad person?

It's a pretty good prank if a little dickheaded.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

Can has use of Ion Array????

Thanks!

*aims at perpetrators house*

You just got perma-banned from life!

*powers down*

darn stupid dial up connection!!!!
VORT STAY OFF THE PHONE!

 

[Skrapt]

The people who called her have to be remarkably thick to actually think the ad was serious... That's what makes the thing sad, not that someone did it as a prank but that people were stupid enough to think it was serious and harass someone over it.

 

[Arrers]

Hey I'm laughing at this, am I a bad person?

It's a pretty good prank if a little dickheaded.

Yes it does.

But luckily for you, a fair few people will also laugh at this.

 

[klc0100]

Strange me and a few of my friends got messages the other day giving us a phone number and telling us to call a girl named christa. Apparently it was because she tried to get some one fired from work.

 

[CyberKnight]

The people who called her have to be remarkably thick to actually think the ad was serious... That's what makes the thing sad, not that someone did it as a prank but that people were stupid enough to think it was serious and harass someone over it.

Sadly, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that someone would try to sell their kid over the internet.

Xbox Live would be an odd choice, though. I'd more expect Craigslist or eBay for a "real" attempt at a sale. If I saw this message on Xbox Live, I'd be more inclined to think it was fake.

They don't say exactly where the message was, though. Did the woman in question have a Live account, and this message was sent from that (i.e. the person, whom she thinks she knows, got a hold of her account and posted the message on her behalf)? Or did someone post it on the Xbox.com message board?

I sure hope Microsoft (since it implies this was posted through their service) helps track this creep down. I get enough phone calls from debt collectors for a person who doesn't exist in my household, and that's annoying enough; I couldn't imagine having to deal with phone calls from people who are trying to get on my case about selling a child in an ad I didn't place...

 

[L33tsauce_Marty]

Hey I'm laughing at this, am I a bad person?

It's a pretty good prank if a little dickheaded.

Yes it does.

But luckily for you, a fair few people will also laugh at this.

It would be funny if it wasn't on such a large scale. I mean if someone just read that headline to you, you wouldn't think to much about it.

 

[mattttherman3]

Well, if this happened to me, I would know exactly who did it, because only 3 of my friends know my home adress, phone number and xboxlive gamertag.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

Wait a minute, so you mean I won't be getting my delicious child in four to six weeks?

Your the one who beat me in the bid! Bastard!

 

[Nuke_em_05]

By the 18th or 19th call, I knew something wasn't right,

...

I think at about the first call of "How much for your baby" or "you sick f***! Why are you selling your baby?!" I might have a suspicion or two... definitely after like 5 or so...

So, did the mom have an Xbox live account? If so, is that the one that solicitations went out from? Rather, if she was hacked, they can probably track where from. If she didn't have an account at all, or it wasn't used; wouldn't the account it came from be a pretty good indicator of who did it?

I'm not surprised, but haven't encountered Xbox live spam before. Wouldn't ebay or craigslist be a better venue for exposure?

Hey +1 for gaming community, most calls angry about bad parenting, not interested buyers. Not +2 because you'd think people might have called to ask if it was legitimate and/or to let her know about it.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

Some people ya know. Only a "gamer" would do this.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

By the 18th or 19th call, I knew something wasn't right

Well gee, isn't she a master deductionist?
OT: Pretty cruel but seeing the above quote... Yeah, totally justified. [/somewhat sarcasm]