The Black Market contains anything that can be bought with money but is totally illegal
to own.
Sometimes, the more illegal a product is, the higher value it becomes and there are
always people willing to take the risk to make a lot of money.
My name is Danny Burke, and I hope you guys can all stomach the top 10 Disturbing Things
Sold On The Black Market.
Starting off at number 10 we have Plastic Surgery.
Im sure youve all seen the horror stories of when plastic surgery goes wrong.
Altering a person appearance is an expensive procedure that requires proper medical training
for the surgeon.
There are more people out there who want in than can afford it which is where the black
market steps in.
For a discount price, people who want plastic surgery can hire a nonqualified back alley
surgeon to operate them - often resulting in horrific or even fatal results.
Some people even buy silicon straight off the black market and inject it into themselves.
More often than not, it ruins their body and their lives - and unfortunately, you cant
sue the black market …
Next up at number 9 we have Human Body Parts.
I wish it wasnt true but it really is.
The organs inside your body are worth a lot.
Im sure many of you have heard about organ waiting lists.
If someone has a failing organ, they have to hope that the death of an organ doner will
mean they get a healthy replacement organ.
There have been investigations into some extremely poor parts of the world where people line
up to have their kidneys removed in exchange for about 5,000 dollars.
Many of them dont want to do it but are driven to by poverty.
On the other hand, the middleman charge the buyers of the kidney far more money - essentially
making them rich off other peoples desperation and exploiting their body in every sense of
the word.
Moving on to number 8 we have Weapons.
Yes, guns are legal to buy in some countries like the US but there are laws governing which
types of guns can be bought and who can own them.
The Black Market doesnt care about that.
Guns and bombs have been sold on the black market from shady dealers to hardened criminals.
For many people, a bigger concern is bombs ending up in the hands of criminals.
The people selling them these bombs know that they will likely end up hurting civilians
but for a price, they just wont care.
Coming in at number 7 we have Pets.
Its no secret that some pets are illegal to own - either for their safety or the publics.
Rare birds, reptiles, cats or breeds of dog are smuggled across international borders.
Their owners then pay tens of thousands of dollars for them, thus funding the international
network of poachers who make a living from catching these animals …
At the number 6 spot now we have Devils Breath.
Its often called the worlds scariest drug and Id have to agree.
Its real name is scopolamine and its used by criminals to wipe peoples memories and
turn them into living zombies.
The drug originates from Columbia where criminals there have been give it to people, often without
them knowing, and then using the victims lack of free will to convince them to empty their
bank accounts, or hand over the keys to their apartments and cars.
The victim then sobers up 2 or 3 days later with no possessions or knowledge of what happened.
One of the scariest things about the drug is that its tasteless and odorless, making
it very hard to detect.
Police are trying to crack down on it but the black market continued to produce this
dangerous drug for the right price.
At number 5 we have Sperm.
Yes, believe it or not, a mans sperm can be bought and sold on the black market.
In 2010, Police in the UK busted a sperm scheme operated out of a basement.
The two men were connecting women with anonymous sperm donors for 445 pounds a go - thats about
600 US dollars.
They would even give the women and sperm and syringe so they could perform self-insemination.
For every thing you find gross about this operation, there is also something highly
illegal about it.
Next up at number 4 we have Uranium.
This Radioactive element is often used in Nuclear Power plants.
Exposure to a human can result in both chemical and radiological toxicity.
For these reasons, Uranium is handled by governments and personal use of the substance is illegal.
That doesnt stop people buying and selling it on the black market though, putting themselves
and those around them in danger.
Moving on to number 3 now we have Fake Degrees.
A degree is supposed to be the proof that a person has passed a course or is qualified
to do a job.
They can be used to get high paying jobs and for some people that dont have them, faking
one is their next best option.
There have been many stories of people working their way through life using fake degrees.
A lot of them are of course illegal but pretty harmless.
Sometimes though, fake Doctors will treat people for years who trust them, only for
them to find out their degree was a total fake.
Maybe check that your Doctors degree is real.
Actually dont thats pretty offensive.
Coming in at number 2 we have Human Skulls.
I dont know how people get their hands on human skulls but they do.
Of course, they can be legally obtained.
If youre a biologist studying the human body or teaching anatomy to college students - you
may end up with a skull from somebody who donated their body to science.
However, there are strict procedures that govern where these skulls come from and quite
often, skulls end up for sale that did not come from a legal source.
Those skulls can be found on the black market where weird people who somehow acquire human
skulls sell them to even weirder customers who are happy having a strangers skull sit
on their shelf.
And finaly at number 1 we have People.
There are more slaves alive today than at any other point in history.
Human trafficking is a serious problem.
Some estimates put the money involved in the buying and selling of human beings at an astonishing
32 billion dollars a year.
Some organisations have concluded that a mind blowing 2.4 million people in the world are
being trapped, sold and transported for profit.
2.4 million people - thats about the population of Houston Texas - people who are not free
to leave where they currently are.
Whether it be cultural taboos such as mail order brides and prostitutes or serious human
rights abuses such as child laborers, the black market profits off
their suffering.