Fantuan Forces Immigrant Delivery Workers to Pay Cash Upfront

You pick up a delivery shift with Fantuan, and before you earn a dollar, the app tells you to pay $80 cash out of your own pocket for a customer's order — then wait until the end of the week to get it back. That is the reality for many Chinese immigrant delivery workers in New York City, according to an investigation by Documented.

Workers told Documented that Fantuan — a popular food delivery app specializing in Asian cuisine with 5 million users across four countries — regularly instructs them to pay for customer orders in cash at restaurants that either only accept cash or do not officially partner with the app. One worker, identified only as C.B., said he earns about $160 a day delivering for Fantuan, but his out-of-pocket cash payments per order range from $30 to $240. On some days, those payments equal or exceed his entire daily take-home pay. Another worker, G., said that on average about 10% of his daily orders require upfront cash payments — and on bad days, that figure climbs to 60%. "The average order is around $30," C.B. said. "That means you have to carry a few hundred dollars in cash every day." Carrying that much cash makes workers targets for robbery, they said — a real danger in a city where the NYPD recorded over 11,000 bike thefts worth $1,000 or more between 2018 and 2023.

"Don't Mention Fantuan" — and the Tax Headache That Follows

Screenshots of delivery orders reviewed by Documented show that Fantuan sometimes instructs workers to remove their delivery vests, hide their Fantuan affiliation, and pose as regular customers when picking up orders from restaurants that do not officially work with the app. Two Flushing restaurants — Kong Sihk Tong and Mala Siblings — told Documented they partner with a competitor, HungryPanda, not Fantuan, and said they were surprised by the instructions Fantuan sent to drivers. Fantuan did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Beyond the safety risks, workers say the reimbursement system creates a tax nightmare. Because Fantuan repays the cash advances bundled together with weekly wages, the reimbursements show up as income on workers' bank statements. "When you file your taxes, it's hard to tell from your bank statements which deposits are actual income and which are just money being paid back to you," G. said.

New York City's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) confirmed it has received complaints about Fantuan's prepayment practices. The agency told Documented the practice is not itself illegal — unless Fantuan fails to reimburse workers within seven days after the end of the pay period. DCWP Commissioner Samuel Levine said the agency will "continue using every tool at our disposal to monitor Fantuan and other apps for compliance with the minimum pay rate." This is not Fantuan's first run-in with regulators. In January, DCWP found the company owed 285 workers more than $468,000 in back pay and forced it to pay an additional $52,000 in civil penalties. In 2022, a California court found Fantuan misclassified workers as independent contractors and ordered the company to pay $725,000 to California workers. Seattle also found Fantuan violated paid sick leave laws that year, resulting in a $180,590 settlement. Workers who refuse cash-upfront orders say Fantuan retaliates by shadow-banning their accounts — keeping them technically online but stopping new orders from coming in. Many workers feel trapped: limited English fluency makes Chinese-language platforms like Fantuan their main option for gig work. Grassroots group Chinese Delivery Workers Solidarity launched a petition in April calling on Fantuan to stop the practice; more than 50 customers have signed in solidarity.

What to Do

• If you work for Fantuan and have not been reimbursed within seven days after the end of your pay period, file a complaint with the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) at nyc.gov/dcwp.
• Keep detailed records of every cash payment you make on behalf of Fantuan — screenshots of order instructions, receipts, and bank deposits — so you can separate reimbursements from wages when filing taxes.
• If you believe Fantuan has shadow-banned or deactivated your account unfairly, document the timeline and contact a workers' rights organization or an employment attorney. NYC's Local Law 34, enacted in January, bans apps from deactivating delivery workers without just cause.
• If you are a Chinese immigrant delivery worker facing these issues, Chinese Delivery Workers Solidarity (reachable via WeChat) connects workers with advocates and resources.

What to do, step by step — see our guide “PERM Labor Certification”.