Anya Soldatova was “creeped out” last Saturday when a stranger offered to buy her two-year-old daughter Eva as she was walking along the Sliema promenade and kept upping the price until he reached €30,000.

“I thought it was a bad joke and smiled at him. But he never smiled back and remained really serious and kept offering to pay more and more,” the 31-year-old Russian mother told this newspaper.

Once she got home she posted what just happened on the Facebook group, ‘Expats: Foreigners in Malta’, and people started telling her she should file a police report as this was “scary stuff”.

She yesterday informed police what happened after people urged her to report her chilling experience. A police spokeswoman confirmed that police had received her report, made through the police’s Facebook page, and had launched an investigation.

Ms Soldatova, who has been living in Malta since 2002, explained how the incident happened on Saturday at about 9.30pm. She was walking along the promenade, opposite the Preluna Hotel, with her daughter.

I said: this is not funny and I wouldn’t sell her even for a billion

She stopped at one of the stalls to buy a necklace for her daughter and they continued walking. Near one of the other stalls there was a man who seemed to know the owner of the stall nearby. He was sitting on a bench and was about 30 years old and “Middle-Eastern looking”.

Ms Soldatova said the man asked her: “How much?”

She thought he meant to ask how old Eva was and she replied that she was two. He asked again and she thought he meant how much the necklace cost and she told him it cost €5.

“Then he said: no. How much for her? €1,000? €2,000?” she said. Initially she thought he must be joking but he kept a serious face and offered more money.

“I said: this is not funny and I wouldn’t sell her even for a billion. He continued raising the price up as we kept walking,” she said, adding that luckily he did not follow her.

The police said that should anyone come across anything similar to this case, they should call Crime Stop Line 119 immediately. They also appealed for information about this or any similar cases, which can be reported at the closest police station or on 2122 4001.