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Four people were arrested, 22-year-old mother and 29-year-old suspected broker in Indonesia's second largest city Surabaya, police said in a Sunday press conference.
Authorities have been alerted to an account on the popular photo-sharing site with the handle "Konsultasi Hati Privat," or Private Heart Counseling, which presents itself as one of pregnancy consultations and adoption services.
However, police said they found evidence that monetary transactions were being carried out.
The head of criminal investigation unit in Surabaya's police force, AKBP Sudamiran, said Tuesday that his team was ready for a 22-year-old mother, identified as LA, to sell her 11-month-old baby to a buyer in Bali, known as NS, using the WhatsApp messaging service. The baby was allegedly being offered for 15 million rupiah (about $ 987).
The Instagram account was still active early Friday and had more than 700 followers, having been running for a year. It has been taken down.
Images featured on the page included black and white photos of ultrasounds, pregnant women and babies with their faces blurred.
In a picture of a baby, referred to as C86, was featured alongside such as age, gender and religion. A contact number is provided with a message urging those who want to adopt or who want to leave a child for adoption to get in touch.
The account also featured screenshots from WhatsApp conversations between the account owner and pregnant women or mothers. In one conversation, a woman who is seven months pregnant says she is unmarried and wants to find someone to adopt her child.
The head of Indonesia's National Commission for Child Protection (KPAI), Sustano, who like many Indonesians has one name, said social media has changed the way traffickers conduct business.
"In the old days, the transaction happened in person and it was usually arranged through a middleman," he said. "But now, they are using new and more advanced methods, through the social media like Instagram and Facebook.
Sustano says: "It is considered more effective, the deal is happening between buyer and seller, and it is not easy to be detected by law enforcement."
"If the use of Instagram is being trafficked to new methods for their trade," added Amanda Bissex, Chief of Child Protection at UNICEF. She believes it is important that the authorities "adapt their policy and legislative response to prevent such crimes, especially against children, young girls and women."
Indonesia is a major source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates that 100,000 children are trafficked each year in Indonesia, with the majority being forced into the sex trade.
In its 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report, the US government rated Indonesia as Tier 2, saying that the country "did not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking." Indonesia was, "making significant efforts to do so."
All of those arrested for 15 years in prison for violating child protection laws.
