On Kickstarter: The Stop Spy scam by Ismael Soltero Rubio

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It started all by being paranoid, lazy and browsing projects on Kickstarter. I participated in a few crowdfunding projects at the same time. Some turned out really nice and useful, but some not.

One of the biggest scams was – and still is – the Stop Spy campaign by Ismael Soltero Rubio (pictured below; it’s mirror-inverted). A small thing to cover web cams and the back cameras of smartphones, laptops, tablets and such things.

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I could have bought this little device from another manufacturer in the first place. A yet existing thing. Or I may have got myself some plain stickers. But I liked the spirit of crowdfunding a lot and wanted to give this campaign a chance.

I stepped in with a small amount. But that doesn’t lessen my anger in general. The scam was and is too cheeky. And Kickstarter doing nothing against such scams – in the run-up and afterwards – is another matter that counts in. The money for projects should only be transferred, if a prototype has been produced or approved and the manufacturing company has lined up for mass production. That’s just a quick idea … and not yet thought through to the end.

Well, I’m wiser now.

And yes: I know, that taking part in crowdfunding projects was and is risky overall.

I won’t be crowdfunding ever again … that’s my present opinion. I’ve been fooled on Kickstarter to often.

But back to the Stop Spy campaign. Read on, if you’re interested or involved.

The main infos were collected and researched by numba.ninja. I supplemented some parts and tried a chronological overview.

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