The Black Market for Accounts, Rappi's New Threat?

Rappi is growing by leaps and bounds in Latin America, particularly in its home country of Colombia. At the same time, however, a market has grown, which is driven by the lack of work for its delivery staff. Since March, urban unemployment in Colombia jumped to almost 25 percent in July, from just over 13 percent due to the pandemic and lockdowns. This has made work as a "rappitendero" highly sought after. According to a Reuters report, the company's fake profiles sell for US$160 each, even on social networking platforms such as Facebook.

In response, Rappi told Reuters that "any illegal market for accounts is rejected outright by the brand". The food delivery company stated that it has a dedicated fraud team that monitors illegal activities and is building a tool together with the police to verify workers' accounts in real-time. "For Rappi's ecosystem, security is a key element. That is why we are continuously monitoring and applying the security protocols, both in the platform of the Rappitenderos SoyRappi, as well as in the application, in order to guarantee and be able to act against unusual and criminal activity," said Pablo Heredia, director of operations at Rappi Mexico, in another statement.

Among the measures the company lists to avoid false profiles are optical and facial recognition mechanisms, as well as criminal background checks on national and international data bases. In Mexico, the registration process begins with a valid official identification, such as INE or FM3, followed by a photo for biometric registration, according to the company. After verifying the identity and background, the applicant may register as a rappeller. "From then on, every time he or she logs on and before delivering any order, two selfies must be taken which we compare with the one taken at the time of registration", the company reports.

Reuters spoke to more than a dozen delivery agents in Colombia, where latest figures show more than 50,000. These delivery workers say there is a strong trade in accounts. All of the deliverers, many of whom are Venezuelan migrants, said that the black market was fueled by Rappi's cancellations of their profiles and that people now pay to be able to work.

More news below:

• Could Mexico compete with Silicon Valley? Roomie IT thinks it’s possible and humanoid robotics could be one of the country’s greatest strengths. “Mexican entrepreneurs are limited to consuming technology that comes from abroad, to be importers of technology and never exporters. It is an unfortunate mindset in Latin America and at the end of the day that does not allow us to innovate or exploit an opportunity to grow the local economy based on innovation,” said its CEO Aldo Luévano in an interview with Mexico Business News

• Don't miss our interview with Abelardo Lara, Country Manager of Veeam Software. In it, Abelardo talks about the need for companies to backup and replicate their data in a safe way through a three-two-one rule (3 copies in 2 mediums and 1 outside the current cloud). Learn more about how you can protect your information here.

• Since the beginning of humanity, dominating the “where” has allowed our species' evolution, population growth, and even our planet's conquest. Today, it also allows us to optimize resources and gives us the ability to make our existence more efficient. “Geography becomes the key that allows us to correlate almost any database or piece of information and gives rise to the analysis of geospatial data, or what is gaining strength today as GEOINT (geospatial intelligence),” wrote Roberto Wong Rubín de la Borbolla, CEO of DESCIFRA Global this week for MBN.

• When the pandemic hit, companies in all sectors realized that their digital transformation strategy could not wait any longer. Six months later and with a lingering economic crisis, Mexican companies continue to drive their transformation towards e-commerce processes, automation and even artificial intelligence.

• Who will take control of Radiópolis? The legal dispute between Grupo Prisa and Corporativo Coral seems to be ongoing.

• As part of its mission to reduce airplane emissions, French giant Airbus has unveiled three new concept aircraft that will be powered by hydrogen, which are expected to reduce emissions by 50 percent. The new ZEROe concept aircraft is one step in the company’s mission to produce a zero-emission aircraft by 2035.

• The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) Telecommunications and Internet for All have set up 1,000 priority service points with public internet access in 24 of the country's states, the company said in a statement.