😮 A Frank-ly bizarre scandal

Plus: A fraudulent chart, the $18m invisible Airbnb, peacock mayhem, weekend reads, and more. [View Online]( [The Hustle] We won’t be sending an email on Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Find resources for how to spend the day of service [here](. In today’s email: - Scandalous: A founder is accused of faking 4m+ users. - Seriously? Scammers are coming for laid-off workers. - Weekend reads: Our best stuff from the week. - Around the web: Peacock mayhem, a responsible otter, a highway style guide, and more cool internet finds. 🎧 On the go? [Listen to today’s 10-minute podcast]( to hear Zack and Juliet discuss a $175m fake email lawsuit, Prince Harry’s memoir, SBF’s Substack, and more. The big idea [college]( Scandal: JPMorgan accuses founder of faking 4m+ accounts JPMorgan Chase claims the founder of a financial aid platform faked 4m+ accounts prior to its $175m acquisition. 2023-01-13T00:00:00Z Juliet Bennett Ryla In 2021, JPMorgan Chase paid [$175m]( for Frank, a college financial aid platform. But if you go to the website [today](, it tells you it’s no longer available and to file your FAFSA at StudentAid.gov. What happened? At the time of the acquisition, founder Charlie Javice claimed Frank had 4.25m customers, [per]( The Wall Street Journal. But when JPMorgan sent emails to 400k users, only 28% were delivered, [per]( court filings. Now, JPMorgan is suing Javice and Frank exec Olivier Amar, alleging they faked 4m+ accounts to bolster the startup’s value when, in reality, it had less than 300k customers. The dirt JPMorgan claims that when it asked Javice to prove her customer count, she initially declined, citing privacy concerns, but eventually produced a list. JPMorgan alleges she paid a data science professor $18k to make fake accounts to match her claims, after Frank’s engineering chief refused to, per court filings. - In one email to the professor, Javice allegedly wrote, “Will the fake emails look real with an eye check or better to use unique ID?” - Amar is [accused]( of paying ASL Marketing $105k for a data set of 4.5m students. Javice’s lawyer claims JPMorgan is lying because it owes the founder millions, which JPMorgan denies. Interestingly, in 2020… … members of Congress expressed concern that Frank was not making things easier for students, creating unnecessary work for financial aid administrators, and potentially selling student data, [per]( Forbes. The FTC also [accused]( Frank of potentially misleading customers. Fun fact: Over on Twitter, @stonks_dot_com [pointed out]( that Javice was a Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient, alongside esteemed colleagues Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, and Martin Shkreli. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Scandal%3A+JPMorgan+accuses+founder+of+faking+4m%2B+accounts%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F01132023-JPMorgan-Frank%3Futm_campaign%3DFriday%2BEmail%26utm_content%3D01132023-JPMorgan-Frank%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( TRENDING [eyeball wearing a hat] Joshua Tree’s “Invisible House,” one of the world’s most famous Airbnbs, is [on the market for ~$18m](. The 5.5k-square-foot reflective house, built with $700k worth of glass, features a bed that sits on a 2.5k-pound glass frame. SNIPPETS Inflation slowed in December, with the consumer price index [falling]( 0.1%, the largest decrease since April 2020. Congress rejected a $400m request from the US Army to buy 6.9k Microsoft HoloLens combat goggles, but [approved]( $40m to develop a new model. Ex-FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, accused of billions in fraud and out under house arrest on $250m bail, is blogging about his defense on a Substack called [“SBF’s Substack.”]( What’s up in AI: One tech marketing agency has “hired” AI interns, [Aiko and Aiden](, over human ones. Meanwhile, ChatGPT appears to [be lying]( about what it knows. Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, sold [1.4m+]( copies on its first day out across the US, Canada, and the UK. HBO Max [upped]( its price by $1 to $15.99/mo., its first increase since 2020. Its much-anticipated zombie drama “The Last of Us” drops this weekend. Sotheby’s will auction off a [Kobe Bryant jersey]( that’s expected to sell for up to [$7m](. The late NBA star wore the jersey in 25 games during his 2007-08 MVP season. The NYC nursing strike is [over]( after three days, thanks to a tentative agreement between their union and two hospitals ensuring appropriate staffing levels. Meanwhile, the National Labor Relations Board has [certified]( the Amazon Labor Union; Amazon must now bargain a contract. TikTok is [adding]( a “Talent Manager Portal” where managers can negotiate with brands and agencies on behalf of creators. Chuck E. Cheese employee Stewart Coonrod’s [TikTok]( shows how animatronics are still programmed via floppy disks. Unfortunately, Coonrod’s store will [replace]( the bot this year with a dance floor. Job hunters/hoppers: No need to write resignations, resumes, and cover letters from scratch. Cop [22 job-seeking templates]( for a huge head start. Chart [job scams by quarter]( Olivia Heller Scammers are coming for laid-off tech workers Losses from job scams totaled $250m in the first three quarters of 2022. 2023-01-13T00:00:00Z Jacob Cohen Nothing beats getting laid off during an economic downturn, finally being offered a job interview, then learning that the interview is actually an elaborate internet scam. Job fraudsters are luring laid-off workers into [offering up]( money or sensitive personal information with phony companies, job postings, websites, and interviews, per The Wall Street Journal. - Many of those being targeted are unemployed tech workers. The broader tech industry experienced a [jump in layoffs]( throughout 2022, totaling ~154k, and has already seen 21k+ layoffs this year, according to Layoffs.fyi. - LinkedIn claims it blocked 20m+ fake accounts in the first half of 2022, up 33% from 2021. The volume and economic impact of these scams have skyrocketed. In 2021, the Federal Trade Commission [reported]( US workers lost more than $209m from job opportunity fraud, up from $118m in 2018. In just the first three quarters of 2022, workers lost $250m. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Scammers+are+coming+for+laid-off+tech+workers%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F01132023-job-scammers%3Futm_campaign%3DFriday%2BEmail%26utm_content%3D01132023-job-scammers%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( Free Resource Balancing business + personal values We all know the struggle: building a life, and building a career. No matter how lopsided you like it, keeping the separation proves to be a challenge. But it doesn’t have to be. [Listen]( to Emily Thompson tackle value mentality on the Being Boss podcast. Inside this episode: - Core values vs. business values - Finding what resonates with both - How values guide long-term success Here’s how a creative entrepreneur stays in the zone. [Navigating values →]( Recs [Weekend Reads] Welcome to Weekend Reads 2023-01-13T00:00:00Z In case you missed ‘em, here’s this week’s best… - Tweet: What it means to [live on the edge]( in corporate America. - Chart: This visual of the [highest grossing films](, despite already being obsolete, is a work of art. - Story: Check out Alex’s look into how two twin sisters monopolized the [identical-twins business](. - Blog: Ever wondered how startups raise capital in a seed round? A [SAFE agreement]( is likely the answer. - Video: Check out the latest [“Hustlenomics” episode]( about the economics of America’s $21B worth of unused gift cards. AROUND THE WEB 🖥️ On this day: In 2000, Bill Gates [stepped down]( as CEO of Microsoft to develop new tech. He was replaced by Steve Ballmer, who was replaced by Satya Nadella in 2014. 🛣️ That’s interesting: The [style guide]( that specifies how US highway signage should appear. ✏️From our blog: Creating a product that customers love takes time. [Here’s how]( to craft a killer product vision. 🦚 That’s interesting: South Pasadena, California, has been in a war over [peacocks](, who some residents claim dent their cars and scream all night. 🦦 Aww: And now, an [otter]( does their chores. Shower Thoughts - Laughing Out Loud is the most used lie in history. [SOURCE SOURCE]( - We can’t actually feel wetness, we can only infer it. [SOURCE SOURCE]( - A 4.7-star rating on a product looks much better than a 5-star rating. [SOURCE SOURCE]( - Seeing someone consume multiple beers at a Chili’s at 9am is suspect. Move that Chili’s inside an airport and suddenly it’s totally normal. [SOURCE SOURCE]( - The closest most of us will ever get to hunting our own food is by tracking our food delivery order status. [SOURCE SOURCE](  [via Reddit]( TELL FRIENDS → GET PRIZES Help your friends aboard our growing pirate ship. Share The Hustle Daily to start winning loot. [all prizes]( [Share The Hustle 🤠→]( Or copy this custom referral link: [ Your referral count: 0 How did you like today’s email? [Love It]( [Meh]( [Hate It]( Today's email was brought to you by [Jacob Cohen](, [Juliet Bennett Rylah](, and [Rob Litterst](. Editing by: Mark “4.7-star rating” Dent. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. [PODCAST]( [JOBS]( [CONTACT US](mailto:news@thehustle.co) [Facebook]( [Youtube]( [Instagram]( [Twitter]( 25 FIRST ST. 2ND FLOOR, CAMBRIDGE, MA 02141, UNITED STATES  +1 888 482 7768 Never want to hear from us again? Break our hearts and [unsubscribe](list=thehustle). [The Hustle](