Organ theft is the act of taking a person's organs for transplantation or sale on the black market, without their explicit consent through means of being an organ donor or other forms of consent. Most cases of organ theft involve coercion, occurrences in wartime, or thefts within hospital settings. Organ theft is a commonly used trope in speculative fiction.

Recorded rumors of organ theft, particularly involving the theft of one or both kidneys, have been spreading since 1991. These rumors may have originated from a news story involving a Turkish man named Ahmet Koc, who claimed that his kidney was stolen while he was in a hospital. However, it was later discovered that Koc sold his kidney and was dissatisfied with the payment he received.

While there is a significant issue of worldwide organ trafficking, there have been few proven cases of organ theft. Benjamin Radford, an American skeptical investigator, has emphasized the complexity of organ transplantation, highlighting the necessity for organ matches, tight time-frames, and specialized medical training. Radford noted that common variations of the cases, such as a traveler being poisoned or a child being taken for organ harvesting, are improbable scenarios for organ theft.

Suspected cases of organ theft generally occur in institutional settings with the systems and expertise that make organ transplants possible.

The Gurgaon kidney scandal, a multi-million dollar illegal kidney transplant racket, was uncovered in January 2008 in Gurgaon, an industrial township near New Delhi, India. Police later arrested several individuals involved in the racket. The victims, primarily from financially destitute backgrounds in Uttar Pradesh, had their kidneys transplanted into clients from various countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Greece. The police raid was initiated based on complaints from locals in Moradabad about illegal kidney sales. Amit Kumar, the main person accused in the scandal, was arrested in Nepal on February 7, 2008, though he denied any involvement in criminal activity.

The scandal involved a local clinic operating for approximately six to seven years. Donors were enticed with around $300 or more for the removal of a kidney, initially under the guise of job opportunities. Later, they were coerced or drugged against their will to undergo kidney removal surgeries.

The issue of organ theft during and after the Kosovo War has been widely reported and investigated. Accusations suggest that individuals were killed to remove their organs for sale on the black market. The victims were believed to be of Serbian nationality, and the perpetrators were linked to the Kosovo Liberation Army (UÇK) in 1999.

Various estimates were provided regarding the number of victims, ranging from a "handful" to over 300. In 2010, a report by Swiss prosecutor Dick Marty for the Council of Europe (CoE) uncovered "credible, convergent indications" of an illegal trade in human organs dating back over a decade, involving the deaths of some Serb captives. The report was endorsed by the CoE, which called for a thorough investigation.