The BEST episodes of Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller season 5
Every episode of Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller season 5, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller season 5!
A 360-degree view of the trafficking world from the point-of-view of the traffickers, law enforcement agents and those caught in the crossfire with access only National Geographic can provide.
#1 - Cartel USA
Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 7/19/2025
A cartel murder in a small Georgia town launches Mariana's investigation into the true reach of Mexican organized crime in America. The results are shocking. From hundreds of small-town drug cells to high-level corruption, she exposes how cartels move drugs, launder billions, and even infiltrate law enforcement. It's a growing influence that's fueling violence and addiction across the country.
#2 - Scam City
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 7/26/2025
Mariana heads for a lawless region in Southeast Asia to investigate a diabolical scamming operation. Criminal groups are luring workers from across the world with the promise of good jobs, only to hold them prisoner and force them to scam. It's part of a multibillion-dollar industry known as the “pig butchering” scam and countless Americans have fallen victim.
#3 - The Tranq Dope Underground
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 8/2/2025
Mariana investigates a deadly new fentanyl cocktail called "tranq dope" that's devastating American users. She's spent her career covering the deadly waves of the country's opioid crisis, but she's never seen it this bad. Seeking answers, she heads to Sinaloa, the heart of Mexico's cartel land, to get answers, and makes a shocking discovery.
#4 - Brides for Sale
Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 8/9/2025
Mariana hears rumors that young women from Vietnam are being kidnapped and trafficked into China to be sold as unwilling brides. This begins a journey unlike any she's been on, as she's forced to navigate government minders, geopolitical tensions and shadowy criminal networks in a search for the truth. What she finds, with the help of a local reporter, is more shocking than she even imagined.
#5 - Million Dollar Highway Heists
Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 8/16/2025
Mariana investigates the global phenomenon of armored car heists, responsible for some of the most brazen and dangerous robberies in the world. In Los Angeles and in Johannesburg, she’ll meet crews, learn how they plan their attacks, and go behind the scenes to understand the ever-expanding arms race between these criminals and the private security companies trying to stop them.
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#6 - Inside America’s Militias
Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 8/23/2025
Mariana investigates how some of the biggest players in the U.S. militia movement are taking the law into their own hands and explores how the growth of militias in Brazil could be a cautionary tale.
#7 - The Great American Rehab Scam
Season 5 - Episode 7 - Aired 8/30/2025
Mariana dives into the dirty business of fraudulent addiction treatment facilities. Her investigation uncovers the shocking lengths that scammers will go to lure people struggling with addiction into sober homes, some of them even providing drugs to keep them using, while billing government health programs billions of dollars in bogus treatments.
#8 - Black Market Love
Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 9/6/2025
Mariana travels to Uganda, where a new law has pushed the LGBTQ+ community underground and prompted some to flee the country in fear. Her investigation uncovers a well-funded global network working around the world to restrict the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.
#9 - Underground Street Racing
Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 9/13/2025
Mariana goes inside the adrenaline-fueled subculture of illegal street racing that's wreaking havoc on cities worldwide. From late-night races in the Bronx to deadly motorbike showdowns in the Dominican Republic, she investigates the black-market gambling that fuels these events, why young men are so willing to risk their lives for speed, and what law enforcement is doing to prevent more deaths.
#10 - Shark Hunters
Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired 9/20/2025
An estimated 100 million sharks are killed worldwide each year the majority to satisfy an insatiable demand for shark fin soup. Mariana goes undercover to explore how American consumers are an increasing part of the problem and investigates the shark hunters and smugglers making so much money that the Mexican cartels now want in on the trade.