Tag: United States Economy

News and data on black market activities within the United States. Drug trafficking, counterfeit goods and human trafficking information included.

3,700 Fake Money Orders Cashed in FY 2004

According to a news release by the United States Postal Inspection Service, ” The U.S. Postal Service issued 188 million postal orders in the fiscal year ending September 2004, during which approximately 3,700 counterfeit postal money orders were cashed. That works out to about one counterfeit for every 53,000 issued, and losses were calculated at less than $3.7 million.”

Profits of Drug Cartels from Sales in the United States

In the National Drug Threat Assessment 2007, the report states that Mexican and Colombia Drug Trafficking Organizations “together generate, remove, and launder between $8.3 billion and $24.9 billion in wholesale distribution proceeds from Mexico-produced marijuana, methamphetamine, and heroin and South American cocaine and heroin annually.” On the Northern border, “an estimated $5.2 billion to $21.2 billion is generated through the wholesale distribution of marijuana and MDMA” by Canadian Drug Trafficking Organizations.

Forced labor in the United States

According to a study by Free the Slaves and the Human Rights Center at the University of California Berkeley, an estimated 10,000 people are estimated to be working in forced labor conditions in the United States as a result of Human Trafficking. The study, Hidden Slaves: Forced Labor in the United States, further states that the victims have been trafficked from over 35 countries, led by China and followed by Mexico and Vietnam.