The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that LendEDU invented a guy named Drew Cloud to run The Student Loan Report, which purported to provide fun insight and good information about the burgeoning student loan industry.
Cloud was quoted by multiple media organizations, including MSNBC and The Washington Post. There was a picture of Cloud on the website, along with a bio describing him as a college graduate.
But Cloud isn’t real. And when The Chronicle had a hint he didn’t exist, someone at the site pretending to be Cloud lied when telling The Chronicle that Cloud “was traveling and had limited access to his account.”
Only now does The Student Loan Report acknowledge its sneakiness, saying it should have told everyone that Cloud was a pen name. But a “pen name” is one thing; it’s another to invent a plausible backstory, including the lie that Cloud “always had a knack for reporting throughout high school and college where he picked up his topics of choice.”
They also cite five times they mentioned the student loan company that owns them, LendEDU, without noting the relationship. (Ask Shawn Hannity about what happens when people find out.)
The discovery raises some questions:
1. The Student Loan Report claims its information is accurate. But if its staff can make up a person — and lie about it when caught — how can we trust what it says about student loans, especially with its ownership by a loan company? What credibility does it have now? Why would any news organization, especially ones burned, use its information?
2. Can we borrow money from its owner and pay back in counterfeit bills?