Think buying a photo of someone else’s unborn baby is weird?
That’s because it is — but it was recently possible on the marketplace app from Japanese e-commerce company, Mercari.
Now, Mercari has pulled the plug on selling ultrasound shots (which once sold online for around $14, according to X users), bowing to those worried about how strangers were snapping up prenatal pics.
The ban hit after a viral X post exposed Mercari listings hawking ultrasound images and photos of positive pregnancy tests.
User @Awakend_Citizen blasted the bizarre trend, writing, “Why are things like pregnancy ultrasound photos or positive pregnancy tests being listed on Mercari???”
Fellow concerned X users weighed in, with some speculating that the photos would be used for sinister and manipulative reasons.
“It seems like they’re gonna use it for some shady stuff,” one theorized, adding, “Like, “I’m pregnant with your child’ type of thing, y’know.”
Someone else replied, “Is it for threatening my boyfriend?”
Another appalled person noted, “That’s creepy. Using it for scams or for getting a divorce, how f—g rock-bottom of an idea is that.”
One other asked, clearly before the ban of selling these images was enacted, “This kind of thing should be subject to regulation, right?”
According to a Reddit post in r/offbeat, one user explained that the idea of a woman committing “pregnancy fraud” in Japan is called “ninshin sagi.”
In the recent post, they further clarified that this is “the act of a woman pretending to be pregnant in order to extort money from a man they had sex with.”
Plenty on X and Reddit are betting that the selling of these ultrasound snaps and positive-test pics were just for a scam cash grab — and many moms who’ve been there can’t imagine any other reason for putting them on the market.
Mercari didn’t explain further, but as of September 1, ultrasound photos are officially banned on the marketplace, as per SoraNews24.
As The Post reported last year, the innocent act of posting pregnancy pics and ultrasounds online can put babies at risk of ID theft, digital kidnapping, and other dangers, a 2024 study warned.
Uploading bump pics and ultrasound unveilings might seem cute and wholesome — but experts stressed that “sharenting” can make babies prime targets for digital thieves before the bun even leaves the oven.
“Even when they post about their pregnancy or anticipating the birth of the child, they give away identifying data,” lead researcher Valeska Berg explained. “And that creates a digital identity even before the child is born.”
Data experts from Australia’s Edith Cowan University added that the “creation of a child’s digital identity can start with parents sharing information about their soon-to-be-born or newly born child on social networking sites.”
The clinicians noted that “digital kidnappers” are defined as “people who steal a child’s identity and photo on social media and pass the child off as their own.”
“[It’s] one of the risks of creating digital identities for children by sharing images, especially those that include personal information about the child and reveal the child’s face.”
Ultimately, from womb to web, sharing ultrasounds might seem cute — until scammers see dollar signs in your baby bump.
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