The don't actually get that $5,000. It's worrying that that amount was pledged, but Kickstarter / Amazon Payments doesn't charge until after a project is complete, and in the case of an unfinished, canceled project, never.

Half of that $5000 is from a single pledge. Is it possible that they pledged $2500 to themselves to make it look like their project is getting more attention than it actually is? Or does someone out there just really really want this game?

How were the stolen images tracked down? Through services like TinEye?

I'm really sorry, but I have to ask... do you perchance work for a game development firm in Washington?

> yet they still managed to get nearly $5,000 in the few hours it was up, which is quite worrying.

Well, the funding was canceled, which according to the FAQ means that all pledges are voided. So they actually managed to get exactly $0.

I like the t-shirt and the bag too. You can clearly see it hasn't been screenprinted. It's been done in Photoshop.

It would have taken a lot more than some 3D mock ups to make this project believable. First he'd have to fix a bunch of stupid mistakes like leaving Activation/Blizzard (they are two separate groups that are just own by the same company), and claiming to be working with Disney (what happens when someone at Disney asks who this idiot claiming to be associated with them is.) Probably, most damming though was his claim to already have funding for a AAA title but still needing an extra $80K overall the numbers just don't add up. This is a really tight spot if he asks for too much money it is more likely funding will fail or that people will investigate his claims. Too little money and he doesn't sound credible.

Second the game concept was incredibly vague about a game that was supposedly already in production. Making big vague promises should always be a warning sign of scam. Conversely when Double Fine did their campaign it was okay that gave gave no details about the game because, 1 it hadn't been started yet, 2 they actually explicitly stated that the game might suck. Coming up with a real good detailed game concept is actually pretty hard.

Next the studio and team wer never shown. Instead you see one young guy sitting at a desk in a poorly lit room with no windows, and a laptop running some stupid animation on it. In other videos we walked though real offices with real people with names, and real workstations that actually look like they are in use.

These last two are going to be very difficult to fake as they require a reputation, accomplices, and money, which scam artists tend to lack. Not to say scams are impossible but I think they are going to be harding then people think.

I think you'll find the "walk away" part is not that simple, considering the fact that it would constitute a crime. The kind of crime law enforcement is quite familiar with and that leaves plenty of traceable evidence because it involves financial transactions.

I'm sure there will someday be someone clever enough to get away with it, but most people are likely to get caught very quickly.

I think the problem though is that projects can end up "scammy" even if they aren't outright scams. If a project makes very ambitious promises, and upon getting the funds, the developers don't put forth much effort and deliver a bug-ridden, lackluster product, it might not technically be a scam. But it will sure feel like one to contributors, and I think Kickstarter is going to increasingly run into this problem in the future.

When you start collecting money from people a prank becomes a scam.

Ugh. No. Every damn news site on the planet misrepresented the Star Command money issue.

First, Star Command didn't fail to deliver. It simply hasn't delivered yet. The game was being shown at a trade show last month. It's on it's way. This is not a case of a cancelled project or someone running off with the money.

Second, the article's statement that only 4k went to the game is an outright lie. They clearly state that 6k went to music, 5k to marketing (poster + PAX), and 1k to development/demo hardware. That's not necessarily ideal but it's not entirely unreasonable either. You can argue the marketing/hardware issue perhaps, but 6k went directly into the game in the form of music.

The real lesson to take away from Star Command is their under-estimation of time and money required to create, package, and ship backer rewards. That's the real danger that other projects should be wary of.

Personally, I think it's up to the individual (or in this case, collective) investor to perform due diligence before handing over your cash. I've only chipped into 3 kickstarter projects, but in each instance I'd done the appropriate due diligence before signing up.

As the saying goes, a fool and their money are soon parted!

An API or a data dump of what?