Washington State Going After Kickstarter Scammers

Grab your popcorn and have a seat, this should be interesting.

“Consumers need to be aware that crowdfunding is not without risk,” Ferguson said in a statement. “This lawsuit sends a clear message to people seeking the public’s money: Washington state will not tolerate crowdfunding theft. The Attorney General’s Office will hold those accountable who don’t play by the rules.”

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Wow, Washington State is gonna shutdown Kickstarter!

CreepyUncleGoogle said:

Wow, Washington State is gonna shutdown Kickstarter!

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? Not really. They're just going to sue anyone who takes money from a resident of Washington state and doesn't act within good faith to deliver.

The case in point is that the project got funded and then the project creator disappeared and wouldn't reply.

BTW .. They're seeking $2000 per offense. There were 32 in the state. This could be an expensive defense, Nash might want to start a legal defense kick starter.

This lawsuit sends a clear message to people seeking the public’s money: Washington state will not tolerate crowdfunding theft. The Attorney General’s Office will hold those accountable who don’t play by the rules.

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Cue the "Washington state residents not eligible badge" on Kickstarter programs.

And how hard could it have been to have a set of cheap ass playing cards printed up to avoid all this? And how much is it going to cost the taxpaying public of the state of Washington to go through with this lawsuit? I'm going to bet it's more than the $25,000 they're accusing this group of stealing. Aren't elected public officials awesome!

If won, the lawsuit could set a precedent not only for Kickstarter fund raisers but also major corporations. This will be an interesting case to watch.

Dwango said:

Cue the "Washington state residents not eligible badge" on Kickstarter programs.

And how hard could it have been to have a set of cheap ass playing cards printed up to avoid all this? And how much is it going to cost the taxpaying public of the state of Washington to go through with this lawsuit? I'm going to bet it's more than the $25,000 they're accusing this group of stealing. Aren't elected public officials awesome!

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This needs to be done though. This isn't the only case of people frauding people on Kickstarter and it won't be the last if nobody does anything about it.

Yes they could have printed up some cheap cards, but you miss the point that would cost them money and they didn't want to do anything other than collect money from people and keep it. Just like the other guy that was creating a card game or board game or something like that. He collected something like $40K, used the money to move from one state to another, quit his job and used the money to live off of for a few months and then when out of money from what he got from kickstarter told everyone he was sorry but he was bad with money management and didn't get a single thing done for the project so it was dead.

This is like a friend asking for $50 for his super new lucrative investment scheme. He just needs 12 more 'investors' and he can make you millions.

I never saw crowdfunding as anything but a risky investment. If they take the money and run or if they come out with the next big thing, it's all up in the air (or in the cards... ).

Did the guy start the funding as a scam, or did he really intend to create those cards? If his intent was to create them, but he just spent the money instead, then that sucks - but it's part of the risk.

People need to understand that with crowdfunding, you're not a customer. You're an investor. Only instead of equity in a company you're going in for whatever the reward level states. If someone makes a good faith effort but fails to deliver, tough luck. That's the risk when you invest, just as a company could fail and make your investment worth nothing.

However, in this case the state is right to intervene. If someone is defrauding a group of people, and never intends to make a good faith effort, then they shouldn't get away with it. Pursuing fraudsters makes the crowdfunding ecosystem healthier. Unless these parasites are punished more and more of them will crop up, ruining it for the ones making great things.

Isn't it instantly a trademark violation for "Bicycle" brand playing cards? Just for starters ... kick starters that is, ba dump bump.

I live in WA and I think this is pretty cool. Fuck Kickstarter scammers.