Tagged: fraud

March 23, 2015 @ 9:56 am By JD Alois  |  

There is always another fraudster hunting for a new method to separate investors from their hard earned money by offering bogus investment opportunities. With updates forthcoming for UK pension options, the FCA has called on individuals to be aware of opportunities that are probably too… Read More

March 18, 2015 @ 9:28 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission has a pretty important, and at times overwhelming, task.  Regulating and enforcing the largest securities markets on the planet is a profound responsibility. The advent of the internet has added a new, and quite challenging, variable to the process as… Read More

March 11, 2015 @ 8:33 am By JD Alois  |  

It’s a Router. It’s a Android Tablet. It’s Home Automation. Its Soap! And its Vapor! Serial crowdfunding project SOAP may have another issue on its hands.  Backers of the ill-fated project have created a petition on Change.org to enlist the Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman… Read More

February 27, 2015 @ 7:30 am By JD Alois  |  

UK peer to peer lender Zopa recently incorporated an automated system to detect fraudulent attempts at accessing their lending system. As a growing number of consumers shift from traditional banks to borrowing online it is inevitable the fraudsters and crooks will attempt to stumble in…. Read More

January 10, 2015 @ 7:59 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Last month, a crowdfunding campaign surfaced on Indiegogo for a kitten by the name of Pedro. The kitten was less than 12 weeks old when he was thrown out the window of a vehicle near Canada’s Gardiner Expressway. Due to the impact, Pedro broke all… Read More

January 4, 2015 @ 9:58 am By JD Alois  |  

This past November Dawn Sole was named one of South Florida’s winning startups by the South Florida Business Journal.  Pluck N’File was described as the “Swiss Army Knife of the tweezer world. The multifaceted tool launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo seeking to raise $25,000… Read More

September 24, 2014 @ 3:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

This one is almost too painful to write.  As many people know the Kreyos Smartwatch was one of the most successful Indiegogo crowdfunding campaigns of all time.  It is also probably one of the most spectacular crowdfunding failures ever.  Trust me – this one is… Read More

September 21, 2014 @ 2:06 pm By JD Alois  |  

This is a story that happens way too frequently.  Cool concept captures wave of crowdfunding success, crushing funding goal only to experience repeated delivery delays as backers wait and grumble. Lacking options to get a refund on their contribution they gather on the campaign comment… Read More

July 19, 2014 @ 9:35 am By JD Alois  |  

Possible Scam Crowdfunding Site Created to Dupe Unwitting Donors. SilverAlms a donation crowdfunding site claims to be the “Worlds First Charity Crowdfunding Portal”.  But is it really?  The site appears to be a clone of crowdfunding campaigns from other platforms such as Indiegogo and GoFundMe… Read More

June 29, 2014 @ 3:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

iFind was running a highly successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter when the ban hammer slammed down.  Multiple commenters on the crowdfunding campaign page questioned the technology behind the device described as the  “next generation item locating tag”.  As most in the crowdfunding industry know, finder /… Read More

June 26, 2014 @ 3:23 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Just a week after WeTag’s iFind raised over $500,000 during its crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, the platform has made the decision to suspend the project following the rise of doubts from its backers. As previously reported by Crowdfund Insider, the iFind is considered the “next generation item… Read More

June 23, 2014 @ 12:54 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission has published an “Investor Alert” on Affinity Fraud.  Basically they are pointing out what should be obvious.  There are always fraudsters out there looking to dupe the unsuspecting.  Confidence schemes (hence the term “con” man) have been around since the… Read More

May 12, 2014 @ 11:22 am By JD Alois  |  

YouAnonNews (YAN), a news collective site that is associated  with the Anonymous movement, ran a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo last year raising funds to launch their site. To quote the campaign;  “Our goal as YAN contributors will be to take what we have learned over… Read More

May 1, 2014 @ 6:51 pm By JD Alois  |  

First State Enforcement of Crowdfunded Project – Asylum Playing Cards Raised Funds on Kickstarter. Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson today filed the a consumer protection lawsuit involving crowdfunding claiming to be the first in the nation.  The AGO lawsuit is against Edward J. Polchlepek… Read More

April 29, 2014 @ 8:36 am By JD Alois  |  

The fraud drums keep pounding louder in China as search giant Baidu has stomped on peer to peer (P2P) lending sites by scrubbing them  from their search results.  The short term approach of removing the reported 800 P2P sites from their pages are expected to… Read More

April 8, 2014 @ 7:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a double header day, SEC Commissioner Kara M. Stein also addressed the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) at their 2014 Public Policy conference in Washington, DC. Introduced by NASAA President Andrea Seidt from Ohio, Commissioner Stein dove right in to addressing the pressing… Read More

March 20, 2014 @ 10:21 pm By CJ Cornell and Charles Luzar  |  

Crowdfunding is exploding as a new way of attracting funding and financing for individuals, small businesses and entrepreneurs around the world. In 2013 alone the global crowdfunding industry was responsible for between $3 and $5 billion in funding. With the passage of the JOBS Act… Read More

March 20, 2014 @ 10:08 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Steve Swink is an Arizona-based game developer and the man behind Scale, a video game that raised over $100,000 on Kickstarter in a round that closed late in 2013. The game looks incredible, by the way. It elicits thoughts of Portal with a bit of… Read More

March 12, 2014 @ 12:22 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

If you want a case study in how a Kickstarter can go horribly wrong, look no further than the campaign for SOAP, a touchscreen home automation router. The campaign is fully funded despite bleeding almost $4,000 since we caught wind of scam allegations surrounding the campaign… Read More

March 9, 2014 @ 12:38 pm By Charles Luzar  |  

The above comment sums up the general tenor surrounding a currently-running Kickstarter campaign for the Soap home automation router. The device’s campaign promises to deliver an Android-based home automation unit that allows the user to control all of his or her at-home digital devices. The… Read More