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Since Kickstarter started back in 2009, there has been quite a few awesome projects that has been funded thanks to Kickstarter and it´s backers.

Projects such as “Shadowrun Returns“, “Wasteland 2” and Ouya for example. But here´s the thing, there´s also a dark side to Kickstarter.

Such as the fact that many projects don´t get funded at all (even though there´s a lot of ambition and talented involved).

Because there´s no guarantee (whatsoever) that you will get your project funded on Kickstarter, even though you got a really impressing project to launch on Kickstarter.

In fact, sometimes Kickstarter stops people in their tracks even before they have started (Kickstarter approves who get´s to be on Kickstarter and who don´t).

Kickstarter simply ain´t for “everyone”.

Then you got the projects that actually did get approved by Kickstarter, but then turned out to be big scams. And that´s the part of Kickstarter that i´m going to focus on in this article of mine.

Keep one thing in mind though. When you back a project on Kickstarter, you invest your money in a vision and a dream. Nothing more, nothing less.

With that said, let´s get this ball rolling shall we?

There has been over 200,000 launched Kickstarter projects since 2009. And out of those, there was success rate of 40%. That´s pretty good.

But there has also been a handful of scams on Kickstarter over the years as well. And there´s even a webpage that´s 100% dedicated to list Kickstarter scam projects, and it´s called “Kickscammed“.

But please allow me to list some of the biggest Kickstarter scams to date.

1-iFind – 9,771 backers – Funds Raised: $546,852

1-iFind

iFind – The World’s First Battery-Free Item Locating Tag

“Powered by our patent pending technologies, iFind is the world’s first Bluetooth item locator that requires no battery.”

iFind got suspended on Kickstarter becouse of the following reasons:

– Misrepresenting support by pledging to your own project
– A related party posing as an independent, supportive party in project comments or elsewhere
– Misrepresenting or failing to disclose relevant facts about the project or its creator
– Providing inaccurate or incomplete user information to Kickstarter or one of our partners

“Accordingly, all funding has been stopped and backers will not be charged for their pledges. No further action is required on your part. We take the integrity of the Kickstarter system very seriously. We only suspend projects when we find strong evidence that they are misrepresenting themselves or otherwise violating the letter or spirit of Kickstarter’s rules. As a policy, we do not offer comment on project suspensions beyond what is stated in this message.”

Lucid Dreaming was a scam from the very start.

Lucid dreaming – 2,569 backers – Funds Raised: $363,302

LUCI™, Advanced Lucid Dream Inducer

“Go to sleep with Luci™, the world’s first lucid dream inducer that uses brainwaves for reliable REM sleep detection.”

Lucid dreaming got suspended on Kickstarter becouse of the following reasons (cred goes to the backer “Terrence”):

1. GPX doesn’t exist
2. The picture of the prototype turns out to be a photoshop fake
3. GPX claims the pic is real and tries to be sneaky replacing it with an even worse photoshop fake
4. Forum asks GPX to settle the matter by simply taking a pic or vid of the prototype to prove it
5. GPX refuses claiming they don’t have access to the prototype or to a pic of it
6. GPX suddenly skips town claiming they need vacation as an excuse to why they can’t provide proof of LUCI (only returning after the deadline thus securing the cash)
7. Forum becomes aware of foul play and have filed complaints
8. GPX scraps 400,000 dollars and its reputation for securing a contract with one of the kickstarter backers due to the forum being a circus (circus being, asking for a pic as proof prior to deadline).

Over 2,000 backers were scammed by Product 3 LLC over their iControlpad 2 project.

iControlpad 2 by Product 3 LLC – backers 2,168 – Funds Raised: $209,100

iControlpad 2

“The iControlPad2 is not tied to phones or tablets. It is designed to be used with anything from your Raspberry Pi, Dev-board or USB Stick computer, to Robots, hobby projects, PC, Mac, bare PCBs/Motherboards, set-top boxes and anything else with Bluetooth.

If you do use it with your phone, it can attach via a swivel-holder for comfort, and is easily stowed when you take calls – as the battery lasts for 12-14 hours it’s a great portable controller. And it’s open source. So if it does not do what you want, you add your own commands/protocols, or download ones made by other users.”

iControlpad 2 got suspended on Kickstarter becouse of the following reasons:

“First of all, we would like to apologize for the length and disarray of this Kickstarter Project over the past 12 months. It has come time to cancel the project. We are working with the team in Germany to see what parts can be returned to the vendors for refunds, and this money we will in turn refund to you all. Our goal is to do this as fairly as possible for all parties involved.”

“Once we figure out what can be returned, we will have more information on the refund process. Backers, we are truly sorry for all of this. We won’t be through with the project until we hit the “Send Payment” button on the last backer who supported us.” – The IControlpad 2 team

In other words. The iControlpad 2 team could not deliver the product that they promised. Thus the cancellation of their Kickstarter campaign.

The Doom That Came To Atlantic City was a doomed project until Cryptozoic Entertainment steeped in and saved the project back in 2013.

The Doom That Came To Atlantic City – backers 1,246 – Funds Raised: $122,000

The Doom That Came To Atlantic City

“You’re one of the Great Old Ones – beings of ancient and eldritch power. Cosmic forces have held you at bay for untold aeons, but at last the stars are right and your maniacal cult has called you to this benighted place. Once you regain your full powers, you will unleash your Doom upon the world!

There’s only one problem: you’re not alone. The other Great Old Ones are here as well, and your rivals are determined to steal your cultists and snatch victory from your flabby claws! It’s a race to the ultimate finish as you crush houses, smash holes in reality, and fight to call down The Doom That Came To Atlantic City!”

The Doom That Came To Atlantic City got suspended on Kickstarter becouse of the following reasons (credit businessinsider.com):

“The short version: The project is over, the game is canceled,” Chevalier wrote. “After much deliberation I’ve had to make this decision. I’ve informed Keith and Lee and neither at all happy with this situation. Every possible mistake was made, some due to my inexperience in board game publishing, others due to ego conflicts, legal issues and technical complications. No matter the cause though these could all have been avoided by someone more experienced and I apparently was not that person.”

“As many others have commented, I didn’t back this under the impression that the project was to form a company and then publish a game,” Kickstarter user RevBob writes. “I was led to believe that the company already existed, the game was ready, and they just needed to raise funds to print the initial run. I certainly didn’t expect to be paying someone’s moving expenses!”

“On Kickstarter, backers (you!) ultimately decide the validity and worthiness of a project by whether they decide to fund it,” – Erik Chevalier, The creator of The Doom That Came To Atlantic City

However, after a lot of fuss. The Doom That Came To Atlantic City did actually get released. So you can buy the game via Amazon for 55 bucks.

I still don´t understand WHY it took so long for the Kickstarter team to pull the plug on this scam project…

Kobe Red – backers 3,252 – Funds Raised: $120,309

Kobe Red – 100% Japanese beer fed kobe beef jerky

“The worlds first 100% Japanese Kobe Beef Jerky. Made from beer fed cattle. Wet aged; infused with sweet; savory gourmet flavors.”

Kobe Red got suspended on Kickstarter becouse of the following reasons (credit goes to reddit user “jmaxcpr”):
1. Magnus Fun Inc is not a California registered company.
2. The email address used to register Magnus Fun’s website is the same that was used to register a site called “Uhadme.com” – which, is now down. However, a cached version of the site shows that a person named Stanley Owens operated the site from an address in Chicago. This same Stanley Owens person was actively attacking people who questioned Kobe’s legitimacy on the message boards – but without associating himself with the company (when clearly he was). At the very least – if this wasn’t fraud – it was misleading.
3. Amazon Payments for this account is registered to a Desjon Allen – who has the EXACT same Chicago address as Stanley Owens.
4. The student filmmaker they referenced in their post about shooting video for us – someone named Aaron Gerber – is impossible to uncover online – at least in relation to the facts Magnus/Kobe shared.
5. There is NO evidence on any social media we searched or through Google that anyone has been or tasted Kobe Red at any of the taste tests they’ve reportedly held (One in Boston, LA, Long Beach, and Austin). It seems weird that not one person outside of the message board would make a post about how delicious this jerky is.
6. All of the accounts defending Kobe – or associated with them – seem to be relatively new.
7. All the normal smell tests on this project come up bad: no names associated with the creators, no photos, odd video, no tract record, strange start up story with unique elements

Even AVGN had no clue that Cheetahmen 2 was a scam, before it was to late…

Cheetahmen II: The Lost Levels – backers 1,122 – Funds Raised: $94,270

Cheetahmen II: The Lost Levels

“THE MOST NOTORIOUS NES GAME IN HISTORY FINALLY AVAILABLE IN A CLASSIC WORKING CART FOR YOUR NES DECK”

Cheetahmen II got suspended on Kickstarter becouse of the following reasons:

“A few days ago a video featuring Internet celebrities Angry Video Game Nerd and Pat the NES Punk emerged promoting a kickstarter for a fixed release of an unlicensed glitched NES game called Cheetahmen II. When the project would meet its $65,000 goal the game would release on reproduction cartridges under the name Cheetahmen II: The Lost Levels, fixing a famous bug that made the original game impossible to beat.

However, Greg Pabich the man behind the project have done similar Cheetahmen related projects before and many are now questioning how much such a project would realistically cost funding seeing as there already exists ROM patches for the game online, the sum would probably not even reach half of the money he’s asking for. It’s likely that Greg is exploiting the AVGN fanbase for his own personal gain.

Now Mike Matei have commented on the situation saying that they are now aware that the kickstarter is a ripoff and that they are currently unable to remove the video and ads due to contractual circumstances.” – Eerpow, via gbatemp.net

“In addition, I’d like to explain: On Cinemassacre, we usually run advertisements for things like Burger King or something like that, so when I was asked to promote a game that I reviewed as AVGN, it sounded like a cool idea. It was something I thought my audience would like. Admittedly, I didn’t know much else about the project other than someone was re-releasing Cheetahmen 2. Just someone releasing a game. How could that go wrong? I got the script and filmed my part for the promo, while I had my head buried deep in the Schwarzenegger Games episode which I was working on at the time.

Over the past week, there’s been a lot of fuss over the Cheetahmen thing, so I looked at the Kickstarter page for the very first time. I admit, I didn’t understand the costs at first and I should have researched it beforehand, but when it was explained to me, it made more sense. Honestly, I’ve paid $60 for the Nintendo World Champion reproduction cart that you saw in the NWC episode and that game didn’t come with a box or comic book. But I don’t know a thing about game production. My suggestion is not to listen to internet rumors and jump to conclusions. Make your own judgement and only donate if you want a Cheetahmen game. The choice is yours. I’m truly sorry about any inconvenience.” – James Rolfe Aka The angry video game nerd

Robin “V-Act” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround