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A Swede who created a $400K Indiegogo-scam

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Re: A Swede who created a $400K Indiegogo-scam

#71

Post by joshstrange »

gnicholas wrote: post #55
joshstrange wrote: post #43

Never pledge on indiegogo, it's for scammers only. Kickstarter (for all it's warts) requires a working prototype to post on their site. IGG requires no such proof that you aren't selling vaporware. Also IGG shows total pledge numbers from IGG PLUS Kickstarter (and potentially other crowdfunding sites you might post to) so that their numbers look bigger. Stop, Drop, & Retro has some really good YouTube videos calling…

> Kickstarter (for all it's warts) requires a working prototype to post on their site What do you mean by "working prototype"? I ran a successful software Kickstarter last year and all we had going in was a mockup (created in Keynote) of what the app would look like. I expected that it would take hours/days after I "submitted for review" for the campaign to be approved, but it was instantaneously approved and went li…

I'm sorry, it apparently only applies to when the project is going to ship a physical item. https://www.kickstarter.com/rules/prototypes

Re: A Swede who created a $400K Indiegogo-scam

#72

Post by nickelcitymario »

CosmicShadow wrote: post #37

Indiegogo in particular is super sketchy, I did a campaign with them and they had an employee there contacting me and telling me all the shady stuff they can do to help me be successful and if that I can guarantee I'll raise x amount they'll do all these extra things like put it on the front page and in the newsletter and whatnot. They let you extend campaigns forever if you arne't about to hit your goal so you can k…

This is fascinating. I, too, had a weird experience with Indiegogo.

I was raising funds for a project, it was going OK (not great but OK... I had two or three backers after a few days), it was climbing the ranks of active projects, and then suddenly it disappeared from the search results entirely. It wasn't a slow descent into irrelevance; it was sudden and total.

Multiple emails and phone calls to Indiegogo resulted in zero response from them. The project close, the funding was sent to me, and I had to manually refund my few backers because I couldn't possibly fulfill their expectation with so few supporters and so little money.

I suspected foul play but had no proof. Now I'm thinking this is much more wide spread than I ever realized.

Lesson learned.

Re: A Swede who created a $400K Indiegogo-scam

#74

Post by exolymph »

jacobush wrote: post #14
estomagordo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a rubbish financing option. The financers on average don't seem very good at comparing their little upside to the risk they're taking.

The ones I hear talking about their sponsoring, is that they know full well. I hear phrasing such as "shooting some money their way in case they succeed" and "it's an interesting project, let's hope for the best".

Exactly. I back crowdfunding product campaigns occasionally and I just assume that 10-20% of them won't work out even if they raise the money

Re: A Swede who created a $400K Indiegogo-scam

#75

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

lb1lf wrote: post #12
benrapscallion wrote: post #11

An article this long, and no mention of who it is? Feels strange to read this detailed investigation into the identity of “he who must not be named”, when the whole point of the article is the identity of the person.

-Norwegian here - the Scandinavian countries in general have _very_ strong laws protecting the privacy of all citizens. A consequence of this is that defendants in criminal cases are very rarely named by the media until convicted, if even then.

At the same time, the law means that everyone's address in Sweden is public and published by various private companies online.

The Scandinavian concept of privacy is… interesting.

Re: A Swede who created a $400K Indiegogo-scam

#76

Post by estomagordo »

Mtinie wrote: post #26
estomagordo wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty damn stupid, know it or not.

Why? It’s effectively a patronage; a model which has been used to bankroll artists, pet projects, and a number of risky ideas throughout history.

It's effectively investment, but without any of the benefits.

Re: A Swede who created a $400K Indiegogo-scam

#77

Post by estomagordo »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #75
lb1lf wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

-Norwegian here - the Scandinavian countries in general have _very_ strong laws protecting the privacy of all citizens. A consequence of this is that defendants in criminal cases are very rarely named by the media until convicted, if even then.

At the same time, the law means that everyone's address in Sweden is public and published by various private companies online. The Scandinavian concept of privacy is… interesting .

Yeah. It's pretty useful sometimes to know how to find people and things.

Re: A Swede who created a $400K Indiegogo-scam

#78

Post by AnnoyingSwede »

I bought a product from Aliexpress (12 euro IoT wifi relay) which i later found in the exact same name and package on kickstarter for around 20 euros. I contacted kickstarter, who quite abruptly removed the kickstarter. If their only intentions were faul they would have let it be, but they actually did the right thing in this case. Just offering another perspective of their work.
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