Project has already been taken down by creator, and all of the companies information is being deleted from the internet, yet they still managed to get nearly $5,000 in the few hours it was up, which is quite worrying.<p><i>Points of evidence</i><p>- God character art is from <a href="http://pgwebdesign.net/blog/35-mythological-art-masterpieces-of-character-design-history" rel="nofollow">http://pgwebdesign.net/blog/35-mythological-art-masterpieces...</a><p>- Backgrounds are from <a href="http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=211755" rel="nofollow">http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=211755</a> and <a href="http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/painting/ancient-temple-entrance/" rel="nofollow">http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/painting/ancient-temple-en...</a><p>- Poster consists of this icon; <a href="http://xooplate.com/templates/details/2443-ancient-warrior-shield-icon" rel="nofollow">http://xooplate.com/templates/details/2443-ancient-warrior-s...</a> on top of this texture; <a href="http://panzertm.deviantart.com/art/Old-Yellowed-Paper-125646153" rel="nofollow">http://panzertm.deviantart.com/art/Old-Yellowed-Paper-125646...</a><p>- The sword reward pictures are from; <a href="http://www.knifecave.com/fantasy/store/products/Designer+Custom+Swords/Kit+Rae%26%23153%3B+Valermos%26%23153%3B+-+Sword+of+Fire++Swords+of+the+Ancients+Collection+-+6th+Edition/UCKR7.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.knifecave.com/fantasy/store/products/Designer+Cus...</a><p>- The reward tier text and values are copied wholesale from The Banner Saga's kickstarter, with just a game name search & replace.<p>- The office photos; <a href="http://i.imgur.com/uTCBT.png" rel="nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/uTCBT.png</a> are just crops from the Burton Design Group; <a href="http://i.imgur.com/XOFdi.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/XOFdi.jpg</a>
I've been wondering for a while how long it would take for mass fake projects being created on kickstarter/indiegogo once these sites got more widely known. This project uses stolen pictures, but one could easily mock up random 3D scenes, make a cool video and walk away with 100k for two days work
If anything, this is should be kind of a relief to Kickstarter users since people have PLENTY of time to discover these scam projects before payment is distributed.
The only scams like these which will work on Kickstarter is campaigns that aren't especially interesting or may not appeal to a huge audience. Once a campaign gets to 100k, there is press involved and people researching. If you get $5k in pledges, no one would look deep enough to check if you're legit. Kickstarter is quite tough in terms of getting on the site and through the month process.<p>I think it shows, always do some due diligence, it seems people did in this case. Look up the creator, their experience. They don't have to provide any work at the end of it all, so it's up to you as a possible pledger.
Was this a real attempt at a scam? Or just an attempt to get some news coverage - like a prank? Like the first real scam on AirBNB someone wants to be the project everyone always talks about with online fundraising.
Bostinno also recently reported another project that simply failed to deliver: <a href="http://bostinno.com/2012/04/25/kickstarters-dark-side/" rel="nofollow">http://bostinno.com/2012/04/25/kickstarters-dark-side/</a><p>Could this create a market for 'verified' kickstarter projects? Kickstarter as an organization states they dont verify, but as they grow the need will also grow. I'm thinking this could be an optional feature that everyone would be aware of (IE: grayed out badge when not invoked). For a small fee a typically background check will be performed, either by kickstarter or an independent.
This is why kickstarter/indiegogo need to release an api or a data dump. It will only help them and the public, just the same as the sec releases public company data.