Marketplaces on the dark web provide eBay-like vendor feedback scores

Fraud and identity theft are among the most common dark web-related crimes

Credit card information, driver's license or passport scans, and login credentials are among the data bought and sold on dark web marketplaces, which can appear there without users' knowledge through data breaches. Medical records can fetch higher sums of money for their potential use in blackmail and insurance fraud.

As of 2025, an estimated $3.2B in annual revenue flows through dark web platforms

The untraceable cryptocurrency Monero is used in about 60% of transactions across more than 37 active marketplaces that sell copyrighted materials, private information, and phishing kits—tools that help bad actors more easily create fake sites to steal users' data—for financial fraud.

Individuals have been convicted of ordering assassinations from the dark web

Researchers have uncovered online storefronts allegedly run by members of various mafia or hitmen that offer to harm or murder individuals in exchange for monetary payment. However, no known murder has been attributed to any of them, and cybercrime task forces believe them to be scams (warning—sensitive content).

Hackers once used 'Fortnite' to clean money from stolen credit cards

Hackers using stolen credit cards would create "Fortnite" accounts and purchase V-bucks, the in-game currency. The hackers would then sell the entire "Fortnite" account on sites like eBay. For instance, an account with $100 worth of stolen V-bucks might sell $25 on eBay.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

Craigslist intentionally avoided user reviews

Although its competitors expanded their sites by adding user reviews and comments, Craigslist avoided them, recognizing that it would compromise the integrity of the site.

Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin was surprised by the emergence of NFTs

Scams have pervaded the NFT space and made critics question their legitimacy, but proponents believe their use cases could one day extend to real estate and credit scores.

Temu works with individual sellers who list and promote their products on the platform

Temu not only takes a roughly 5% to 15% commission rate, but also earns the money its sellers pay to advertise their products on the Temu platform.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Smart pricing algorithms can unintentionally work together to raise prices

Researchers have found that, through trial and error, algorithms designed to adjust prices based on market data can learn to mimic price-fixing tactics, even without explicit programming to do so. Over time, they "learn" that it is more profitable to avoid price wars and keep prices high when competitors lower prices.

Merchants have to pay credit card transaction fees each time a card is swiped

Credit card networks such as Visa, Mastercard, and American Express must calculate fees for not only the customer, but also the merchant in every transaction.

The scam factories behind prolific scamming

Scammers are on the rise, and many of those behind them are trapped in so-called scam factories—shadowy organizations tricking honest workers into fraudulent employment.

The firms running America's voting systems

Three companies make up over 90% of the US market share around voting systems, and like any company, they're priorities aren't always aligned with the public's. Dive into the industry of voting machines in this investigation piece from the Guardian.

Explaining how open source systems like Linux can be secure, despite their public source code

While no computer system is immune to all cyberattacks and malware, the transparency of open-source technology means many thousands of developers can review and oversee the underlying code powering the software on an ongoing basis. This increases the likelihood of catching and patching vulnerabilities more quickly than smaller groups of cybercriminals looking to exploit them.

If a publisher wants to sell fan fiction, they encourage writers to change key details

Historically, companies that publish popular fan fiction have their authors change a few details—like character names, settings, or other details—to avoid potential copyright violations. Many believe the risk is worth the reward, though the legality remains murky. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Want to begin trading in cryptocurrency? Check out these exchanges

Explore the current cryptocurrency market. CoinMarketCap tracks 242 spot exchanges where various cryptocurrencies are traded. Newbie and experienced traders will find timely exchange ranks and scores charted according to traffic, liquidity, and trading volumes. CoinMarketCap promises legitimacy in all trading volumes reported.

How massive cargo ships fight off modern pirates

Piracy on the high seas costs a reported $16 billion each year from either theft or damage incurred during an attempt to pirate massive cargo ships. This video breaks down several ways companies attempt to fend off would-be thieves. Pirate crews are...

How prediction markets differ from sportsbooks matters for regulation

There are a number of differences and similarities between sportsbooks and prediction markets, despite both allowing people to bet on outcomes for sports-related events. For instance, prediction markets typically earn revenue through transaction fees rather than taking directional exposure to outcomes.

The Paypal-owned Honey app and RetailMeNot are popular places consumers find digital coupons today

With digital coupons overtaking physical ones as the most commonly redeemed coupons, customers flock to these sites and apps for coupons and discount codes, often checking multiple of them before making an online purchase.

Banksy once sold his highly valued artwork on the street for $60

The notorious (and anonymous) street artist has a history of sending up the art world's pretensions. In 2013, he sold his artwork, valued at approximately $20K per piece, for $60 on a New York street. Some unassuming, but apparently aesthetically discerning, patrons took home world-renowned work that day at a steep discount.

The US-led global debt settlement market is expected to expand from $4.8B in 2024 to $7.2B by 2032

While debt settlement companies aren't technically allowed to charge fees until after lowering a consumer's debt, a loophole in the Telemarketing Sales Rule (a mix of federal and state laws) gives predatory firms the opportunity to exploit consumers.

The global horse market is worth about $400B

In this podcast episode from a new series on horses, Freakonomics explores the market around buying and selling some of the world's top sport horses, and the nebulous forces that make them so valuable.

How one supplement company cost a short seller $1B

Pershing Square, a hedge fund founded and run by Bill Ackman, put short positions on Herbalife in 2012, because it believed the company was a pyramid scheme. Ackman's longtime rival and legendary investor Carl Icahn began buying Herbalife shares, causing the stock price to rise—ultimately hurting Pershing Square's short position.

See which companies folded and which survived the dot-com crash

Companies that primarily used the web as a platform for doing business were more vulnerable than companies that created technology. While hardware and software companies managed to make it to the other side, most e-commerce companies took a brutal beating and share prices plummeted.

PayPal was started in 1998 by Peter Thiel

By the year 2002, PayPal went public for the first time—but that was far from the end of its business story. eBay later bought PayPal, then eventually spun it off. PayPal IPO’d for a second time in 2015.

Brain wave-reading earbuds are being used by companies to study workplace performance

Limited safeguards prevent governments from accessing and companies from sharing brain data. Foreign governments may also be developing technology to spy on and potentially disrupt human thoughts.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

A vending machine run with Anthropic's AI went out of business after it was convinced to give away items for free and sell a video game console.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

The US dollar is the most widely circulated currency in the world, and is involved in nearly 90% of global transactions

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Fear or disgust related to clusters of holes and cracks, called trypophobia, may stem from evolutionary processes to help us avoid pathogens.

Artificial coral reefs have been 3D printed from nontoxic, biodegradable terracotta clay, which coral polyps have used as a foundation for rebuilding marine ecosystems.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

Frank Lloyd Wright's houses are historically hard to sell because they're old, subject to local landmark commissions, and often unfashionable

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

The 2026 Ebola outbreak is hampered by a lack of vaccine against the species of the virus, heightening the need for rapid tests to aid in disease control.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

See this overview of the firework rules across all 50 states, ranging from a complete ban on non-professional fireworks in Massachusetts to states with more lax rules like Indiana.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

A pickleball's loud 'pop' sound can reach 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a hammer hitting a nail

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, and became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.