hi, everyone, welcome to "on the money. i'm becky quick. inside the black market of cannabis where illegal dispensaries break the law our investigation, weed killers. dragging small businesses into the dimming tall age the company lending a helping hand hidden fees. they're all over the place from basics to hotels to sporting events way to avoid them, find them and fight them how to save money on your car insurance. one way to pay less but it could cost you something else. "on the money" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "on the money," your money, your life,

your future. now, becky quick we begin with the booming business of cannabis but with those potential riches come this is reality there's a much bigger boom in the black market of weed that is crippling legal sales. what's going on inside dispen dispensa dispensaries melissa lee as our lead story investigation, weed killers. >> reporter: it's a weekday afternoon in los angeles the epicenter of cannabis in the united states. this busy dispensary is open for business >> hi. >> reporter: but if everything looks normal, it isn't this is, in fact, an unlicensed, illegal dispensary part of the booming black market in california and around the country. it's what the cannabis industry says could be the biggest threat

to sky high expected revenues. >> the legal cannabis market in air very short period of time is going to grow from 0 to somewhere in the neighborhoo of 50 to $75 billion. >> reporter: that optimism faces this reality an estimated $70 billion in illegal marijuana sales nationally seven times the legal market case in point, california. early projections of more than $1 billion in annual cannabis tax receipts in 2018 are far from the $345 million collected. that's in large part because the illegal market can easily undercut the costs of running licensed dispensaries. it's not hard to see how >> you guys ready? >> yeah. >> yeah. >> all right >> go. >> reporter: a team of cnbc producers equipped with hidden cameras visited ten illegal dispensaries throughout l.a. most aren't hard to find and they're open day and night they all have one thing in common, they are brazenly

breaking the law operating with no license, selling potentially untested products and allowing customers to openly consume. in this illegal dispensary down the street from the university of southern california customers are dabbing, smoking a highl potent cannabis concentrate, and if you want free weed, this store and others were happy to give it away as the signs say, all you need to do is write a positive review on weed maps, an online site that lists both legal and illegal dispensaries around the kurpdz >> oh, my god. >> reporter: despite a daily limit on the amount of cannabis stores can sell to a customer, you can buy as much as you want at many of the illegal dispensaries. >> we can get as much as we want >> yes >> there's no limit? >> no. >> reporter: we did not buy anything from the dispensaries

the black market is a huge problem. in some states it's 70% to 80% of sales and it's a big threat so a lot of states are thinking about how do we alleviate it the two things is price and convenience. >> reporter: and nowhere are legal operators feeling the impact more than in california the country's largest legal cannabis market where voters passed proposition 64 in 2016. businesses had to be in compliance with the license by january. that clearly didn't happen we showed a compilation of our video to los angeles city attorney mike fewer. any surprises to you >> no. i know that there are local dispensaries operating in the city it might be some of the locations you just showed me are under investigation right now. >> reporter: how big of a problem is this? >> it's a very significant problem, and from a public health and safety standpoint it's especially crucial that buyers of cannabis only go to the licensed shops. >> reporter: an illegal store

can rake in $10,000 to $20,000 a day authorities say. so far 151 illegal dispensaries have been shut down with more criminal prosecutions pending. none of the illegal dispensaries we visited responded to our request for comment. the danger in these illegal stores is potentially unregulated products, like these sold to unsuspecting customers legal dispensaries are required to sell regulated products which are tested this is exactly why legal store owners like cameron wall, executive vice president of project cannabis, is outraged at how bold the black market has become. >> we're facing especially in california and l.a. explicitly an illicit market that is extremely strong we're outnumbered three to one, illicit operator to legal operator we have outrageous price compression that we have to see at our stores.

>> reporter: how much easier do you think is it to operate illegally >> a lot easier. no compliance standards, no permitting process, no documentation, no legal process they had to go through >> reporter: so they're breaking the law, potentially threatening the health of consumers and threatening your business. >> correct. >> reporter: and doing it in plain sight? >> in plain sight. >> reporter: and as we found in all the dispensaries in which our cameras captured illegal activity, it appears the boom in the black market in cannabis isn't going away any time soon. there are 186 licensed dispensaries in los angeles but 250 illegals ones according to police but as of now, no one knows the exact number as far as weed maps, the company tells us it provides a valuable service to the cannabis industry and the cannabis consumers >> incredible reporting. very well done, melissa. why is it so difficult to try to shut down these illegal dispensaries >> they have tried everything. they do weekly raids as part of the lapd on these illegal dispensaries. they try to go after the landlords and shut down the utilities.

the basic problem is the maximum fine for these illegal dispensaries is $1,000 >> they're making $10,000 to $20,000 a day? >> absolutely. as soon as they shut one down, they open it right back up and sometimes just in a week's period of time it could be shut down and then reopen for business. >> that's like whac-a-mole >> exactly. >> is this just l.a. or othe places around the country? >> l.a. and california is th worst problem but there's a black market everywhere. >> a lot of people are forecasting huge revenues and part of the assumption that they take the black market dollars to legal dollars but if the black market has really taken hold and can offer consumers a much cheaper product, that conversion from the black market dollar to the legal dollar is going to b much less therefore the projections won't be that rosey. >> incredible story. thank you so much for sharing. up next, we're "on the money" from retiling a floor to renovating an entire house

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joining us from san francisco to tell us how it all works is marco zapacosta, co-founder and ceo. thanks for being here today. >> thanks for having me. >> good morning. >> you launched it about a decade ago your point to try to help people find local professionals your company has gone through pretty significant changes and recently raised $150 million in funding so why don't you tell us how the service works today. >> so, the last two years has all been about making thumb tack much faster so you can instantly see the pros available, interested, qualified and just right for you. historically it took too long so reinvented how the app works such that you can have these matches happen instantly. >> you pick the person that i'm going to get matched up with i say here's my job. here's what i want you say here's the person for you and they're ready to go. >> go back ten years when you had a list of names and numbers

and you would ask, are you free to do this job. >> are you qualified how much will you charge me? we've asked pros to answer those question as head of time and mapped 500 different occupations and gotten pros to tell us all that granular detail such that when you search we're revealing the pros in your neighborhood truly interested in that job who are qualified and 70% of the time we can show you an estimated price for what's coming and through that get you to finding the right pro dramatically faster than ever before. >> i imagine your customers, the consumers use these services like that but maybe some of the pros think, wait, you're having me give you so much information, did you get pushback from some of those professionals when you first started? >> we certainly did. it's understandability for these pros this is their livelihood how they make their earnings and support their families and sensitive to making sure they're putting themselves out in the best way possible and required

more trust for us to do that for them but over the last two years we refined it and really worked it now it's delivering. when it clicks what they see is like, wow, i can spend more of miami time focusing on what i do best serving my customers and doing the things offline that are sort of special to me and let thumbtack take care more of that automated marketing. >> how do you get paid i just wonder how do you keep a consumer coming back for more if it's in the same arena how is it not a one and done >> so thumbtack makes money every time we match together a customer and professional. if you were to go back to that same professional you can go through the app and we do not charge the pros for that we love that because at the end of the day thumbtack is about helping you find your people and when you find them, you should be able to go back to them easily and confidently and it'll be like that rolodex you used to have by the land line phone and

collect your people. >> what keeps you from keeping me from cutting you out of the loop i found my person, now we've got a private relationship and taking it off your site and we're not going to get paid for any of those. >> we love that. just like facebook and google don't monetizing recurring transactions when you know you search and find the right pro you come back to us and households are spending a trillion dollars a year on these local services so there's so much spin that's out there and we are okay not monetizing every single interaction. if we become the first place you search every time you need to hire and see that happening with this new experience and delivering these results instantly. >> so we mentioned plumbers, electricians, swim lesson, photographers, what's the wei weirdest thing i could find on your site? >> there have been lots of weird things you could find sheep shearers in southern california on

thumbtack. now, i will say that is not our bread and butter today not surprising the category that spiked is central air with the heat wave all across the east coast, you see just central air installation and repair spike all across. that is more typical but you can find a wide array -- it speaks to the magic so much talent there's so much human diversity and struggled to find a market for itself and thumbtack unleashes that. >> marco, thank you. we appreciate your time today. >> thanks for having me. up next we are "on the money. nothing can ruin a great vacation faster than surprise charges on your bill how to find them prevent them and fight back. later, driving down your car insurance rates. but is it worth the price that you are asked to pay short answer, no to be your own boss.dy... that's the beauty of your smile. crest's three dimensional whitening... ...removes stains,... ...whitens in-between teeth...

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ever feel ripped off when you find out about extra charges on a mobile phone bill or a hotel stay many customers are surprised, annoyed or downright angry when they show up so how can you avoid these hidden or unexpected fees senior personal finance correspondent sharon epperson joins us with some answers to this sharon, how big of an issue is this for consumers nationwide? >> what we're seeing is consumer reports survey consumers

85% said they've seen a surprise charge or faced an unexpected or hidden fee in the last couple of years and 2/3 said that they're seeing more surprise charges now than they did five years ago so this is an issue that is widespread and it's growing. >> it is annoying. you think you're getting one price and it turns out to be another one when you get there i guess part of it is places where there's really intense competition they're giving you a headline number hoping to suck you in what companies or industries are the biggest culprits when it comes to drip pricing or hidden fees >> it's happening across the board and you describe it very well, that drip pricing. you don't see it because you're looking at one web page and it says one price and the next we page charges another tax or fee and in the end you see what it really is, and that' when you get the real number so we're seeing this in telecommunications, we're seeing this in travel, we're seeing it in live entertainment and sporting events. it's really across the board, and there are many other industries as well where this is happening. the issue is that a lot of us don't do the homework that you have to do to make sure you don't face the charges

companies are going to continue to do it you need to look at the fine print in the contract before you sign any contract of course. that's always the case when you're buying something online, going through the pages and really looking at what the charges are before you actually purchase that item, as much as it looked great on that first page, really make sure you can afford what you're paying for. also you want to make sure that you are scouring all of the invoices that you received to make sure that there are not hidden fees tacked on with taxes and other things that you never knew were going to be there. >> airline tickets came to mind but i guess before you hit the final pay button on an airline ticket you do get a final tally. i guess this is more of a situation where you're paying for a service or something that you're going to find out more down the road, where you get the final bill later. i guess you could add in lending a car or something like that what can consumers actually do to try to combat it? >> you erase all of your issues that we travelers for work or pleasure face all the time and

one thing i found that i the best way is to book on the sites directly, whether that's your hotel, your airline or your rental car company there you're going to see, they have to on that page definitely by the end tell you what you are apaying for. >> right. >> i always find it easier to do that when it comes to things like your cable tv bill, you know, maybe you can negotiate with the cable tv provider and if you're willing to pay for some of the extra charges or not and the bottom line is to be vigilant and ask. so many people complain about it, but those who actually speak up can get the refund. or at least get something in return from some of these companies. >> that's a great point. the squeaky wheel tends to get grease so don't complain to everyone else around. complain to the company. >> call up the company, yeah >> sharon, thank you it was great to see you. >> good to see you, too. up next "on the money," a look at the news for the week ahead. and what's the price for privacy? would you trade some in to pay less when you drive?

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♪ i'll never forget you >> reporter: as a backup singer with the allman brothers and other well-known rock bands, keith england shares his voice with the world but he doesn't want to share how he drives. >> it's just kind of a personal thing. driving, where you're going, how fast you're going. >> reporter: the vocalist downloaded the app from his car insurance company allstate to pay his bill more conveniently he didn't realize the app was also capable of monitoring his driving. >> i had no idea it had the tracking app within the app. no idea. it gives you the option of, well, if you click no thanks then it's like -- >> it's called uvi they track and report driving beha behavior, how much time you spend behind the kwheel. even the time of day you drive auto insurers nationwide are offering discounts for drivers to download and use these apps >> easy, easy.

>> but you're in labor >> don't mess with my discount. >> the ads highlight the savings and that appeals to some drivers. >> that would do it because i'm a really safe driver. >> everyone knows what we do anyway if it can safer me a discount, i'm for it. >> the flip side, bad drivers could see their premiums go up this data dependent system i designed to benefit insurers. >> there will be some savings in premium but they will see more on the back end, on the profit side because they pay out less claims or they see an increase in premium because people who have poor driving habits have a higher rate. >> reporter: but the tracking actually changes driving behavior researchers found customers whose driving was monitored for 26 weeks decreased hard braking by an average of 21% younger drivers improved overall the most out of all age groups as the trend continues, there's concern about whether

the monitoring becomes mandatory and privacy concerns loom large. >> it's just the idea of being tracked. it feels a little big brotherish. >> reporter: still, if it sounds a sour note with some, it's a seismic shift in the way hoff how you drive rather than your history of driving. in 2017, 20 million insurers subscribed to this type of insurance, but by 2023 that's expected to grow to 142 million people around the world. the discounts range 3% state farm says it can be as high as 30% so your insurer and how you drive really matter. >> for 3% people are willing to give up their privacy on some of these situations how willing are americans? do people realize what they're giving away? are they nuts? >> in 2016 pew research center did a survey, a study on how americans approach privacy and found many americans are willing

to share their information for tangible -- a discount on the insurance. we talked to people, especially younger people, look google is tracking me. facebook is tracking me. my maps apps are tracking me i mean, at least i get something for it >> very interesting. love it. no way i'm letting them track me contessa, thank you for bringing us that is the show for today i'm becky quick. thank you so much for joining us next week, the new app to keep you safe when you're swimming in the ocean. notice the picture of the shark. that's key i can't wait to hear about this one. each one, keep it right here we're "on the money. have a great one we will see you next weekend here you go little guy. a cockroach can survive submerged underwater for 30 minutes. wow. yeah, wow.

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hi, everybody. i'm till ler mathisen. we ran out of options. no lee, no wapner, no sullivan so they put me on "options action." we have a wild show for you ahead. here is what is coming up. apples, apples and more apples. >> apple is the last of the big tech stocks to report earnings next week. after a more than 20% run off the lows, you won't believe where dan sees it heading next he'll lay out the trade. plus -- ♪ >> the dollar is surging this