Remember the 2023 Bianca Gonzalez Biometric Update article that I cited in my own 2023 post, “Why Age-Restricted Gig Economy Companies Need Continuous Authentication (and Liveness Detection)“?
The TL;DR…someone authenticates themselves after a delivery company request, but the actual delivery is made by a minor such as a younger brother or sister. As I noted, continuous authentication through the entire delivery process, rather than just at the beginning, nips this fraud in the bud.
Well, another Biometric Update article, this one by Lu-Hai Liang, revisits gig economy identity fraud.
And it introduces a new term: “ID renting.”
“A TransUnion report indicates that weak identity verification processes are leaving gig platforms, workers and consumers exposed to fraud and safety risks.
“The 2026 Gig Economy Worker Report reveals that one in four gig workers has rented or sold access to their accounts, enabling unverified individuals to perform services under their names.”
Of course ID renting is not limited to the gig economy.
The whole “money mule” effort is designed to obfuscate the original seller of goods by inserting an intermediary, with the intermediary’s rented identification the ID of record.
Whenever you let someone borrow your identity, you’re endangering everyone.
But there are ways to stop this. If your company offers such a solution, Bredemarket can help you publicize it. Talk to me.
And in case you’re wondering, yes I do my own work.
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