Wayfair has been accused of being a front for child trafficking through the selling of outrageously expensive items. Here’s how this story leads to a deep and disturbing rabbit hole.
By Vigilant Citizen
The “Wayfair conspiracy” or “Wayfairgate” has been making rounds online on Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, and Tik Tok. And, the more internet sleuths uncover bizarre details, the more the conspiracy is gaining steam.
The controversy began when a Redditor named PrincessPeach1987 made a post in the /r/conspiracy subreddit about storage cabinets sold by seller WFX Utility on Wayfair priced in the $12,700-$14,500 range. These items have bizarre distinctive names such as “Neriah” and “Yaritza” (which is odd for “industrial cabinets”). The user (who later stated that she was “involved in a local organization that helps victims of human trafficking”) suggested that this might be a front for child trafficking.
In the same thread, a Redditor named Forsaken-Clock wrote that they reported the items to the human trafficking hotline and that a case was reportedly opened. Approximately six hours after the post was made on Reddit, all the items mentioned in the post were removed from the site, although the pages could still be accessed via Google Cache (not anymore).
The conspiracy quickly became viral, forcing Wayfair to deny the rumors, while promptly removing all suspicious items from its listings. A few days after, Snopes chimed into the controversy with one of its legendary “fact-checks”, which, to some, is only further proof that there’s actually something going on there.
Is this a wild conspiracy theory or was an actual child trafficking network exposed? Here’s a look at the deep rabbit hole that is the Wayfair conspiracy.
Suspicious Items
The entire Wayfair debacle began when a user who was looking for high-end storage cabinets (and thus filtering results by highest price first), found bizarre articles with ridiculously high prices.
These item listings were deemed suspicious for several reasons. First, they appear to be grossly overpriced compared to similar items. Second, several listings had the same exact picture and the same specs but with different prices and item names. Speaking of which, these item names matched the name of actual missing girls complete with rare or unique spellings.
It should be noted that some of these girls are not missing anymore (either found safe or dead). However, there appears to be a strange correlation between the name of these items and the name of actual missing girls – as if these names hinted to the actual purpose of these items.
As the story gained steam, other internet sleuths discovered more suspicious items on Wayfair. For instance, these throw pillows cost nearly $10,000.
Nearly identical throw pillows that are grossly overpriced.
The item description of these pillows appear to be automatically generated and contain no possible explanation for their exorbitant price.
No passport required?
The same company also sells products that are nearly identical at widely different price points.
One shower curtain costs $9,999 while the other costs $99. The difference: The more expensive one can be personalized with a word. I’m not a personalization expert, but I don’t believe that printing a name on a shower curtain costs $9,900.
Some explained these prices as a “glitch” or as a way of hiding out-of-stock items. I can guarantee you something: Massive online stores such as Wayfair do not experience massive pricing “glitches” and the process of tagging an item as “out-ofstock” is either automated or only a click away. In other words, there is absolutely no need for coming up with crazy prices.
Not the First Wayfair Controversy
In 2019, Wayfair employees organized a massive walkout because it was discovered that the company sold furniture to ICE detention centers.
Hundreds of employees signed a letter stating that Wayfair has a contract worth $200,000 of bedroom furniture with BCFS Health and Human Services that would be distributed to a facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas. That’s a bizarre contract to have for a “higher-end” online company. And, considering the fact that, for years, the massive flow of undocumented migrants has been a gold mine for child and human traffickers, the association is strange. For instance, it was recently reported that the U.S. government “lost track” of thousands of migrant children in the past years.