Kickstarter Campaign Scam - Any recourse?

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pozmans

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Never in my life would I have thought that I would of been scammed, feeling pretty silly right now.

So in June, I came across a Kickstarter creator who was running 2 campaigns (links below) one for a wireless cloud device and another for a LED wireless speaker. Both campaigns were well backed raising over $34000 and $6000 dollars respectively, which led one to think that the guy was legitimate. I then decided to pledge on the LED speaker.

Then suddenly, the LED speaker campaign was suspended by Kickstarter who stated that the item was already on the market and that the creator misrepresented himself (which is against Kickstarter policy). A while later, a message by the guy then went out to all backers saying that Kickstarter didn't let him explain his side of the story and that he has now partnered with www.wiqiqi.com to distribute the products, and that we can get the same deal there. Naturally, being on Kickstarter, many people felt that he was running a legitimate business so did just go to the redirected site and purchase it off there. However, 2 months later, all communications ceased and nobody can get hold of this guy (even the backers for the $34 000 Kickstarter campaign).

To cut a long story short, Is there any recourse for me with claiming back from my bank (FNB)?



Kickstarter Scam Campaign Links:

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...-and-mobile-charger-iphone-ipad/posts/1262800

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/uniflash/hex-portable-led-lamp-2-bluetooth-speakers-speaker
 
None.

Kickstarter has a payment system which works and generally these campaigns are investigated before the fund date. If something is dodgy, it gets blocked and you dont lose any money.

moving this offsite, where money is then immediately deducted, rather than only deducted when the campaign has been funded to me highlights something very dodgy.

Bet you wont make that mistake again.
 
I wasn't thinking clearly at the time, but to be fair, there was a legitimate reason for it being redirected to another site.

As for my money, I'm glad it wasn't a high ticket item. I can accept a hit of a couple hundred rand but if it went into the thousands...:mad:

But yes, lesson definitely learnt!
 
Kickstarter don't pay them until they are proven legitimate so through them you could get your money back but buying through an outside site you unfortunately cannot. The only way is if it was a credit card transaction and you phone your bank and place an immediate stop before the funds send. This can only be done within a few hours maximum of paying.

Honestly though after using kickstarter or doing other pre release support I can recommend people not to do it at all. Literally I think out of about 5 things I've funded only 2 have actually finished the product to a level even closely resembling the promised product.

This includes services such as kickstarter indigogo and steam.
 
Last edited:
Vaughan said:
Kickstarter don't pay them until they are proven legitimate so through them you could get your money back but buying through an outside site you unfortunately cannot. The only way is if it was a credit card transaction and you phone your bank and place an immediate stop before the funds send. This can only be done within a few hours maximum of paying.

Honestly though after using kickstarter or doing other pre release support I can recommend people not to do it at all. Literally I think out of about 5 things I've funded only 2 have actually finished the product to a level even closely resembling the promised product.

This includes services such as kickstarter indigogo and steam.
Click to expand...

I've bought a few things off Kickstarter but the only electronic products were faster charging iphone cables and they going really strong (a year and a half+).

Ultimately, It comes down to the designer/creator who decides on the quality of the product.
 
If you paid by credit card and never received the item, and its within 6 months of the transaction, then yes, of course you can lodge a dispute with the bank - you don't have to go into detail, all you have to specify is goods not received.
 
That's exactly what's happened. As far as I'm aware, they don't have any reason to help me out.

Will give them a call to confirm though.
 
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