- - Young gig workers are selling or renting their profiles for extra income, report finds

Emma OckermanJanuary 16, 2026 at 2:13 AM

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A chunk of young gig workers are selling or renting their user accounts for extra cash, allowing others to possibly bypass verification processes and perform services under someone else’s name, a new report from TransUnion found.

In a survey of 1,012 adults published Thursday, TransUnion said that 31% of both Gen Z and millennial gig worker respondents reported renting their already-approved accounts to others. Meanwhile, 27% of millennials said they’d sold their accounts, compared to 22% of Gen Z respondents, underscoring both younger workers’ need for extra income and buyers’ desire to quickly gain access to verified profiles or those with better ratings.

Renting or selling profiles is generally prohibited by gig platforms’ terms of service, TransUnion said, but 45% of current and former gig workers overall said they’d engaged in it.

“This practice can happen because someone, maybe themselves, couldn’t get approved to use a gig platform,” Colleen Thiry, director of TransUnion’s gig economy business, told Yahoo Finance.

“Maybe someone doesn’t have the right driving record or they don’t have the right length of driving history to be on one of these platforms, or perhaps they couldn’t pass some type of background check element involved in some of these gig economy platforms’ approval processes,” Thiry continued. “When that happens, when gig workers rent or sell their accounts, it really jeopardizes security on the platform.”

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The Tech Transparency Project also reported in April 2025 that people were purchasing and leasing rideshare or delivery driver accounts through Facebook groups, skipping background checks that can ensure users have a valid driver’s license.

For sellers, meanwhile, there’s also a financial incentive to pass off accounts online in a K-shaped economy where lower-income earners are under strain.

“These are valuable accounts,” Thiry said. “People do want to be able to be gig earners, and there’s value in working on those platforms, but they’re seeing an additional financial opportunity to sell those accounts for some additional money as well.”

Read more: How to make more money with a side gig

For the survey, gig work included ride-sharing, delivery, digital freelancing, caregiving, and other services. Yahoo Finance has reached out to multiple gig companies for comment.

TransUnion, which offers fraud and identity verification solutions to companies in the gig economy, noted that workers themselves can also face fraud from users, including fake accounts and tip-baiting, where users offer extra cash and then revoke it. In all, 34% of gig workers, both current and former, felt they’d been defrauded at some point on the job.

“I think that speaks to the need for these gig economy platforms to make sure they have robust identity verification and fraud prevention solutions when someone is registering for an account,” Thiry said.

Emma Ockerman is a reporter covering the economy and labor for Yahoo Finance. You can reach her at [email protected].

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Source: “AOL Money”