Pirating the Pirates: Fake Crowdfunding Campaign for Pirate3D’s Buccaneer
Palo Alto, California (PRWEB) July 31, 2013 -- A fraudulent campaign for a “Burclader” 3D printer has appeared on crowdfunding website Indiegogo. The campaign uses materials derived from Pirate3D’s recent crowdfunding project, the Buccaneer. Pirate3D successfully raised $1.438 million at the conclusion of their Kickstarter campaign in June.
“We are not running another crowdfunding campaign,” says Pirate3D’s CEO Roger Chang. “Please do not support any crowdfunding projects claiming to be Pirate3D. They are scams by despicable individuals looking to make a quick buck.”
The fake campaign raises the issue of fraudulent crowdfunding campaigns. Other deceitful campaigns have appeared on both Kickstarter and Indiegogo. An article on Quartz highlighted a recent dishonest campaign purporting to offer Kobe beef jerky. It was taken down by Kickstarter in the nick of time before funding was successful.
“When we applied for Kickstarter, we were faced with a barrage of checks and verifications before we could launch,” comments Brendan Goh, Pirate3D’s COO. “They would literally call you up and ask personal questions to ascertain your identity. It seemed a little overkill at the time, but now we realise it’s good for weeding out frauds.”
Pirate3D with its affordable 3D printer is expected to ship the device next year. Promising an intuitive interface and ease of use, the Buccaneer 3D printer was made available to Kickstarter backers during Pirate3D’s campaign in June this year.
“We are currently speaking to distributors and hope to put the Buccaneers into retail outlets,” says the company’s resident growth hacker, Titan Lee. “There’s a chance we will also make it available for online orders soon. However as of right now, there is no way to order a Buccaneer. Please check our website for official announcements on ordering and retail. Don’t get scammed!”
UPDATE: As of the 29th of July, Indiegogo has removed the sham Pirate3D campaign off their crowdfunding website.
Brendan Goh, PIRATE3D, http://pirate3d.com, +65 90037085, [email protected]
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