In a shocking case in Italy, a woman has been accused of faking a pregnancy in order to conceal an illegal surrogacy. Then, when the child turned out to be of mixed-race, she returned the baby to its biological parents. Surrogacy is illegal in Italy, and attracts prison time and heavy fines. The woman is alleged to have paid 20,000 euros for the child, and she wore a latex pregnancy bump which she bought online in order to fool family and friends into believing she was pregnant. Officials in the town of Latina outside Rome received an inquiry about registering a home-birth, but became suspicious when no mother subsequently showed up. Police investigated and uncovered the scheme. The baby has now been taken into foster care.