Looted French goods popping up on resale site

Paris: The second-hand online marketplace Vinted has removed listings of looted French goods and stepped up checks on “suspicious” adverts, as the country’s authorities seek to prevent goods stolen during riots from being sold online.

Vinted says its teams have taken “immediate action to identify and remove listings linked to the looting,” following a weekend of unrest that saw shops ransacked across France, with the cost of property damage and theft estimated to be several hundred million dollars. “The sale of stolen goods, or soliciting them, is strictly prohibited on Vinted, and we have zero tolerance for it,” the company said in a statement, noting that it had “stepped up monitoring of suspicious listings.”

Accounts found to have breached its rules could face permanent bans, Vinted said, adding that it is working with law enforcement and French authorities to “detect and counter emerging risks and malicious behaviour.”

The response comes as the French government increases scrutiny of online marketplaces following reports that goods stolen during Saturday’s unrest were being offered for sale online.

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