Ali, a 30-year-old Jordanian father of three, was without a job and desperate. A friend convinced him that selling one of his kidneys could improve conditions for his family and also save someone's life.

So he flew to Egypt earlier this year, had a kidney removed, and was paid 5,000 dollars. But it was a Faustian bargain.

"I regret it with all my heart. I don't know what I was thinking," Ali told AFP. "I got all 5,000 dollars after I donated the kidney, but I did not see or know the person I gave my kidney to.

"Now I know I made a bad mistake out of ignorance. I don't have a job, and poverty and hard conditions blinded me to what I was doing."

Ali was just one of dozens of cash-strapped people in Jordan who sold a kidney to brokers who prey on the poor.

Mohammed, 29, said he too was promised 5,000 dollars for a kidney, but after the operation he was given less than half of the money in late 2008.

"I couldn't do anything about it. They told me 'take it or leave it'," said the father of two.

"I still can't find a job, I'm still poor and now all the money is gone. My life did not improve."

Mohammed said he was deceived into thinking he would "still have a normal life" after the operation.