How We Uncovered the Biggest Fraud in Kickstarter History
kickstartedmovie.com
kickstartedmovie.com
Now there's a meta-fraud for you.
...and then they use the movie as a launchpad to promote another fraud and pass it off as legit!
For example there are two comments from before the project blew up from "B.B." and "tomicakes" both claiming to have tried the Jerky at one of the taste sessions these guys held, the "B.B" user registered in April 2013 and has created and backed other projects, "tomicakes" also backed another project and commented on it quite a few times.
If this is a case of fraud they went all out on it... the accounts using to shill pre-date the kickstarter. With this in mind it looks like it's possible that the problem was not the jerky did not exist but maybe they weren't using actual Kobe Beef? Maybe the fraud was the product itself, not the existence of the product?
"April 2013", makes you feel that the account was legit? Did these accounts predate the other kickstarter the scammers ran?
Magnus Fun Inc had created another project - a mini coffee table book – that failed only 2 days before Kobe Red was launched.
B.B[1] posted a comment on May 18 saying, "i had kobe red jerky yesterday at the GREAT GOOGAMOOGA MUSIC AND FOOD FESTIVAL in brooklyn NYC and it was amazing!"
B.B has an account on Kickstarter registered in April 2013. The account has backed 6 projects and created 1. The project created was a "gay handbook for straight friends" (B.B identifies as a gay woman) created on April 17 that had 18 backers for a total of $501, the goal was $1700 and was not met.
Tomicakes[2] was created in May 2013, the account backed the KRJ project and another called "Natural Decadence: Gluten-free Grahams.". The account posted multiple comments on KRJ claiming to have tasted it at an event (and goes on to interact with B.B in the comments), tomicakes also commented on the "Natural Decadence: Gluten-free Grahams." project a couple of times.
There's more comments from people claiming to have tasted it with account histories. This is either people seriously committed to fraud (I guess it's possible when it's hundreds of thousands on the line... but the target was only 2k) or the fraud is the product quality. I feel that backing a wide variety of different projects and creating different projects across a wide variety of accounts is the point where this becomes more likely a misunderstanding vs. premeditated fraud.
The ways in which the project came out as a fraud are so very amateur that if this is a pre-meditated fraud (in that someone created fake projects, backed projects, created plausible accounts months in advance) I can't see how they managed to screw up so royally when it comes to whois and usernames?
[1] http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/brandb
[2] http://www.kickstarter.com/profile/1976351133
edit: oh I see what you mean about the first project, impossible to find out as the account has been removed and there's no google cache. If the project previously matches the current MO (30 day) then yes, it may well match up!
Does anyone know if other crowdsourcing sites with less stringent requirements (e.g., Indiegogo) have problems with scam like this?
Not affiliated in any way just thought it was interesting.
"Please consider backing us on Kickstarter so that we can share more this story and 99% of crowdfunding stories that will inspire you."
I do understand that the scam isn't the focus of the documentary, I just find it ironic financing a movie about crowdfunding through crowdfunding.
It's like someone just mechanically threw together a bunch of random concepts and terms they gathered through a quick google, without much effort make it seem plausible. They don't even seem to have tried to be subtle about it... ><
Is this an important property when making beef jerky? 'Cause I've never had juicy beef jerky.
It's usually made of pork. I've tried those made of chicken and beef ones. They taste yucky. Stick with the pork ones. I'm guessing in trying to capture the majority muslim market in Malaysia, they came up with the beef version.
Kobe beef is also around $300-400 for 1kg, so maybe $50-100 in ingredients alone, in Japan, for a burger, let alone what it costs when imported.
Not that it matters a great deal. You probably still got something good. There's other highly (and higher) valued beef in Japan too, Kobe is just a big prestigious brand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_indication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_indications_and_t...
These things usually get codified in trade agreements. It seems that Japan hasn't been particularly concerned about protecting Kobe beef internationally, likely because there are so few exports simply due to production limits.
1. There is almost 0 chance that you've tasted beef from a wagyu cow from the city of Kobe. Aside from import/export costs, the cost in Japan (having actually eaten Kobe beef from Kobe) is far closer to about $400-600 per steak (2kg perhaps?)
2. Americans have been importing wagyu cattle and crossbreeding them with cows here to create American "Kobe beef" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagyu#United_States
The average American family that even has a savings account has around $6,000 in it, total (http://finance.zacks.com/much-money-average-american-family-...). You can see how spending 1/6 of your total savings on a single meal would strike most people as out of reach.
Not to mention that ~30% of families have no savings at all.
> Might not be related but a Mike Walden just posted on my business's facebook calling me a child predator.(I've never gotten so much as a misdemeanor).
> And this is the funniest part, just a curious thing I found. The Facebook page for Kobe Red Jerky is: https://www.facebook.com/louis.friend.948 . > "Louis Friend" is an anagram for "Iron Sulfide", or more commonly known as "Fool's Gold". Funny, isn't it?!
> i'm already working on old mans ip address and info, give me 30 minutes and you will be able to give the police his home address.
Also some really spectacular trolling of the comments section in order to make it hard to find critical comments, including someone puporting to be a PETA supporter.
Based on the video revealing the fraud, there's no way I'll fund the movie. (Not that I've ever funded anything anyway)
I assume you expect a medal?
What happened in this case is that was a product that too few of the mostly technical-oriented Kickstarter audience understood was unrealistic.
I think it's still possible to fraud people over kickstarter by staying under the radar: ask for little money, and if you receive not much (let's say under 5000? 1000?), no-one will bother to investigate whether your project worked out.
Isn't kickstarter to get the funds in the first place? The trailer suggests filming is complete...