Uber Postmates gig worker scamming

Hundreds of Postmates riders were scammed, resulting in significant loss of earnings, But Postmates did little to protect its riders from bad actors, or to support them when scams occured. 

As Elizabeth Watkins of Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy told The Markup, 'In regular employment arrangements, there is a company culture and there are always people you can talk to. One word for that is social transparency ... In gig work, they don’t have this—it’s called digital isolation.'

Postmates says it has reimbursed some riders with lost earnings in the wake of The Markup report. Uber is estimated to have over 500,000 riders on its books in the US and other markets. The company was acquired by Uber in December 2020.