All-purpose delivery firm Rappi spawns black market in worker accounts

As Rappi has grown in Latin America, particularly in its home country of Colombia, so too has a shadow market for the all-purpose delivery firm’s worker profiles.

Rappi, a play on “rapido” the Spanish word for fast, has gained some 150,000 active contractors known as “Rappitenderos” and $1 billion in backing from Japan’s SoftBank since it was founded by three entrepreneurs in 2015.

But in a country where urban unemployment jumped to nearly 25% in July, up from just over 13% in March following coronavirus restrictions, and more than a quarter of the population lives in poverty, work as a Rappitendero is highly sought after.

Against this backdrop a black market where fake profiles are sold for as much as $160 apiece has emerged, including on social media platforms such as Facebook.