US-based furniture retailer Wayfair has been forced to deny bizarre conspiracy theories circulating online that allege the company is involved in child trafficking. The unfounded claims, which originated from the QAnon community, have gained global traction despite the company insisting there is "no truth" to them.
The conspiracy began when a well-known activist tweeted about the high price of storage cabinets on Wayfair's website, noting that they were listed with girls' names. This led to allegations that children were hidden inside the furniture as part of a trafficking ring. Wayfair explained that the high prices are due to the items being industrial-sized for commercial use, and names are assigned by an algorithm—a common practice among retailers.
Some QAnon followers linked the product names to missing children in the US, despite several of those children being found safe. One woman even did a Facebook live to refute the claims linking her name to a cabinet. Additionally, false assertions about personalised pillows costing up to $10,000 being used for trafficking were dismissed by Wayfair as a price glitch.
The theory escalated when activists claimed that searching Wayfair product SKU numbers on Russian search engine Yandex returned images of young women. However, this was due to a Yandex glitch affecting random number strings, not specific products. The issue has since been corrected.
Wayfair has temporarily removed the products in question to rename them and provide clearer descriptions. The conspiracy has spread widely on social media, particularly in Turkey and Latin America, echoing the unfounded Pizzagate theory from 2016.
