Tagged: fraud

March 1, 2013 @ 5:37 pm By Jennifer Napier-Pearce  |  

Crowdfunding has come to the rescue for hundreds of thousands of startups looking for capital in a tight credit market. Soon, a new dimension to online fundraising, known as equity crowdfunding, will be available to investors, and that has regulators and consumer advocates on edge. Regulations to… Read More

February 13, 2013 @ 7:01 am By JD Alois  |  

It used to be that stock transactions were a laborious task.  Phone calls were made, account verifications were processed, confirmations were mailed and summarily filed away.  The advent of internet based stock trading was a natural and exciting evolution of  investing in equities.  No longer… Read More

February 11, 2013 @ 7:00 am By Charles Luzar  |  

Promises Made An individual identifying himself as Michael Waller of Syracuse, NY launched a Kickstarter campaign in the summer of 2012. The project was called the “MD-Pen,” or “minimal and durable pen.” It is an aluminum housing compatible with many off-the-shelf pen cartridges. Pre-orders were offered… Read More

February 10, 2013 @ 5:38 pm By HITC Tech  |  

Not all games on Kickstarter are what they appear, as a title aimed at US College Football fans was recently pulled from the crowd funding site after potentially fraudulent claims were exposed. Boasting a backing from well-known Atlanta Falcons running back Jamal Anderson, the project claimed that… Read More

February 9, 2013 @ 3:51 pm By CrowdCheck  |  

Crowdfunding offers the ability for early-stage companies to seek investments from friends and neighbors in their social networks, fellow alumni, and others who have similar affinities.  These connections may help reduce fraud that comes in the form of outright theft from investors.  But selling securities… Read More

February 9, 2013 @ 2:43 pm By Outside Magazine  |  

Kickstarter has become the go-to funding source for serious expeditions and boondoggles alike. And that has some benefactors wanting their cash back. Last May, Andrew Badenoch, a thirtysomething former Internet marketer in Oregon, set off on a 7,000-mile solo expedition from Bellingham, Washington, with a… Read More

January 23, 2013 @ 8:30 am By JD Alois  |  

Recently a superlative document was published by the Milken Institute which reflected upon the current state of crowdfunding domestically within the United States but also drawing on parallels abroad.  This missive was authored  by Messrs.  Chris Brummer, a law professor at Georgetown University and Daniel Gorfine,… Read More

January 22, 2013 @ 7:04 pm By CBSNews  |  

Part of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups, or JOBS, Act of 2012 made it possible for the little guy to get a chance to put money into a startup. That’s the charitable interpretation, anyway: Many critics of the legislation worried that it may allow some… Read More

January 17, 2013 @ 8:18 pm By WSJ.com  |  

Regulators are scrutinizing about 200 websites set up by entrepreneurs to profit from a more lenient law on the sale of shares in small companies. State securities officials identified the websites after a sweep of thousands of Internet addresses for possible threats to investors following… Read More

January 17, 2013 @ 9:20 am By Alison Grant, The Plain Dealer  |  

Formal complaints of securities violations in Ohio have fallen sharply in the past five years, but the state’s top securities watchdog says that trend could reverse with the rise of more Internet-based investing. Under a new securities law signed by President Obama last April, companies are… Read More

January 14, 2013 @ 4:00 am By VentureBeat  |  

Imagine if your favorite neighborhood bakery or a local start-up conducted an IPO. Could personal relationships drive local investments and investor profit? In economic times like these, investment in their neighbors will appeal to investors of every stripe. The purpose of this post is to… Read More

December 30, 2012 @ 2:16 pm By JD Alois  |  

There was a recent release this past week coming from a law firm, titled: Are Massachusetts Crowdfunding Actions a Sign of Things to Come? This appeared to highlight the forthcoming risks of crowdfunding.  The statement starts by declaring; Massachusetts’s regulators recently filed fraud actions against… Read More

December 23, 2012 @ 9:15 am By The Boston Globe  |  

April 21 marked an amazing milestone for Jon Ramaci and his Cambridge start-up, iCache. He’d set out to raise $50,000 on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter for an iPhone ­accessory that would let users carry digital copies of all those credit, debit, and loyalty cards that… Read More

December 21, 2012 @ 3:07 pm By Crowdfund Capital Advisors  |  

There seems to exist in certain regulatory circles, particularly at the state level, a perception that Crowdfund Investing (CFI), when it comes on-line, will be rife with fraud. But this sky-is-falling mentality is unfounded and points to no structural or design problems with Title III and… Read More

December 11, 2012 @ 1:42 pm By Victoria Silchenko  |  

What is the five-letter word sure to strike fear into the hearts of investors everywhere? Fraud. But what I can’t understand is why this particular f-word keeps being associated with equity crowdfunding. Sure, the involvement of large crowds statistically does increase the probability of a… Read More

December 7, 2012 @ 6:03 pm By Bostinno  |  

Between now and whenever the SEC releases its final crowdfunding guidelines, we’re likely to hear a lot more about the potential pitfalls of letting anyone invest in private companies. Just as in the run-up to legalizing crowdfunding, lots of that talk will center around fraud…. Read More

December 7, 2012 @ 3:45 pm By Crowdfund Capital Advisors  |  

Equity and debt-based crowdfunding (aka crowdfund investing) isn’t even live yet and State regulators, rather than engage in effective and productive dialogue with our industry on how to best protect investors, has chosen to continue its misinformation campaign by describing fraud that is NOT crowdfunding,… Read More

December 7, 2012 @ 7:01 am By JD Alois  |  

An article in Investment News today alleged a grave Crowdfunding misdeed tookplace in the form of fraud by a company called Prodigy Oil and Gas LLC.  As quoted in the article; Prodigy allegedly sold at least $464,000 in unregistered securities to one Massachusetts investor, according… Read More

November 8, 2012 @ 10:09 pm By Lane Report  |  

Department of Financial Institutions warns of potential scams FRANKFORT, Ky. (Nov. 8, 2012) – Would you like to help a local business or start-up entrepreneur gain its first foothold in the community? What if after you invested, that business never produced its promised goods or… Read More

November 1, 2012 @ 10:03 pm By JD Alois  |  

In its prospectus, a penny stock named Caribbean Pacific Marketing proudly described itself as an “emerging growth company” when it began to sell shares to the public this summer. To someone uninitiated to the Orwellian nature of recent legislation, that phrase might have seemed downright… Read More