You Can Buy Drugs and Used Underwear on Facebook Marketplace Now

When you think of Facebook Marketplace, you probably think about a smashed iPod Touch, battered secondhand Air Forces or the vintage oak coffee table your auntie considers “a fucking steal”. Basically a huge online charity shop, without any of the giving to charity.

Scratch just a little below the dusty surface and you might find something very different: magic mushrooms, live snakes, cocaine, used underwear, weed, Ozempic, “hook-up services” and scams. 

Facebook Marketplace’s reach is huge. With over 1 billion active users and a cash-in-hand system, it’s easy to see why dealers and sex workers might turn to Facebook to advertise their services. In Greater London alone, a search for “mushrooms” turned up at least 40 listings selling those of the psychedelic variety.

Jack is a shroom dealer on Facebook Marketplace. His ad shows various strains, including Albino Penis Envy, pictured on scales and innocently titled “Mushrooms”. Clicking into the post confirms these aren’t extortionate £200 dried porcini – the description straight-up reads “psychedelic shrooms in stock”. 

“It’s just like ordering a pizza,” he tells VICE. (Like all the sources in this piece, he’s speaking anonymously for privacy reasons.) Jack sells on Facebook because it’s one of the largest and longest-running social media platforms. Despite the ad's location showing an area just outside Manchester, UK, he stresses he can deliver anywhere rapidly: “We got our methods and connects, got runners everywhere.” 

Even with an anon profile, Jack isn’t entirely relaxed about selling on Facebook. “It’s risky. Facebook restriction, cops, junkies are a big problem as well… some give out fake drop-off spots just to rip you off and take off with your shit… Some say they got money – once you get there, it’s a whole other story.” 

In this line of work, it’s understandable that most sellers are only willing to talk about the job in exchange for large purchases, their initial rapid replies trailing off at the mention of “journalist”. 

“Trust me,” one user says, “I’d be very motivated with some £££££ lol.” 

Danny is another of the few psychedelics sellers willing to chat about the job. “I get most of my regulars from here,” he says of Facebook Marketplace. He was caught once after a police officer posed as a customer. “We’re discreet [but get] lots of feds acting like customers… That’s why I don’t do meetups anymore. All orders are being delivered to the customers’ preferred location – I drop off and zoom off for security reasons.”

Sellers and buyers scamming each other is nothing new – even in the world of Marketplace. In some instances, violent individuals have used the platform to trap their victims. Facebook made headlines in 2021 after 54-year-old Denise Williams from Pennsylvania was stabbed to death after meeting a man who claimed to be selling a secondhand fridge.

Fortunately, 36-year-old Facebook user Alex escaped relatively unscathed from his run-in with a scammer. He was lured to a location under the impression he was buying a coffee machine. Things quickly turned violent when he was greeted by a man in a balaclava. “He pulled out a long knife, probably five or six inches long and jabbed it into my stomach and walked me to this alleyway,” he tells VICE. “I gave him the 200 quid cash I’d brought [for the machine], my wallet and my car keys.” Still not satisfied, the man threatened to stab him multiple times, demanded he unlocked his iCloud – to make the phone easier to sell – and left.

It isn’t just buyers who can be scammed – sellers can too, particularly when their services don’t abide by Meta’s rules: no sexual services, drugs, human body parts or fluids, hazardous goods and more.

A search for underwear in London returns at least 20 ads for used underwear and “other services”. Twenty-one-year-old Rachel sells nudes and used underwear on the platform. Once a customer sends her a message, she sends a price list: Used undies cost £2, and a pair worn during sex will set them back £50. She sells 20 nudes for £25 and a 10-minute sex video for £30. Want to sext? That’ll be £25 for a ten-minute convo.  “I’m not allowed to advertise that I sell naked photos, etc,” she says. “I have to say I sell ‘underwear’ – not used underwear, or that gets taken down.” She puts up the listing with a picture of herself in the listing so that potential clients get the hint.

Rachel assures VICE that she’s one of the few sex workers on Facebook who actually delivers on her services. “There are a lot of people on here who are fake selling – this makes it hard to get people to trust me and actually send the money,” she explains. “I could just not send them anything once I receive it.” 

Whether you’re dealing drugs or selling nude content, breaking Marketplace rules can expose you even more to scammers. “[Sometimes] someone pays and I send them the pics or videos, but then they contact the bank or PayPal saying I never sent them anything,” Rachel says. “I can’t really prove I sent him stuff because it’s of me naked and it goes against the rules.”

Despite the lack of protection, Rachel insists it’s better than more popular sites. “The reason I use Facebook Marketplace is because there’s less competition than OnlyFans, and I don’t have to post any [nude] pictures of myself to attract people – I wouldn’t like that people could have free photos of me without paying. If I posted regular selfies on OnlyFans I wouldn’t get any subscribers, but on Facebook it seems like there’s a lot more people who want to buy stuff.”

Despite the opportunities for money-making on Marketplace, Rachel doesn’t always feel safe. “I get threats a lot and a lot of insults, which isn’t nice, but it’s part of the job, really,” she tells VICE. “I get offers to meet people for sex but find it way too unsafe.”

Meta declined to comment on scammers, drug dealers and sex workers using Facebook Marketplace, but using the platform to sell illicit substances and services is nothing new. Just hours after launching the new feature back in 2016, drugs and guns appeared for sale and Facebook were forced to issue an apology, blaming this on a technical issue – one that doesn’t yet appear to be solved, seven years on. 

At the time, Facebook said: “We are working to fix the problem and will be closely monitoring our systems to ensure we are properly identifying and removing violations before giving more people access to Marketplace.”

Through a combination of discreet phrasing and suggestive imagery, drug dealers and sex workers are still finding ways to connect with their customer base without explicitly violating the rules. So the next time your mum wants to make a posh risotto, maybe let her know those dried mushrooms on Marketplace aren’t actually shiitake.

@izzy_copestake