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Kickstarter Identity theft

Former Member

A post warning others of what I found just an hour ago.

 

I had a project hosted on Indiegogo of a case for the raspberry pi.

 

I have just found all my material on Kickstarters website hosted by a user pretending to be me. He claims he is from the Uk, and is taking money under my name. He even has my videos linked.

 

Due to the seriousness of this, and the fact that it is identity theft I intend making this viral. This could have serious impact to my name and career should the hacker fund the project, and do a run with the funds.

 

The project name is Raspberry Slice - it can be found archived on the Indiegogo website, and is now currently funding on Kickstarter!!!!

 

I have posted about it on Kickstarters Facebook page, and also reported it on their site.

 

This is really, really, not good enough and scary when you think about it. Their screening is obviously terrible, as is their user checks.

 

 

Brian Garvey.

Parents

  • Brian, Did you find out who the SOB was?? can you put you hands on him....

    1. Sue him in a federal court.. image This can put him away for long time..image

    2. no imagethen have somebody break his f*in legs...image

     

    I don't know about the UK but across the pond in the states.... when you start a project...

    1. I buy a bound quadruled book at Staples. http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Staples/s0474956_sc7?$splssku$

    its about $20 here in the states

    2. write the name of the project on the first page, and a short description (your idea) as well make sure you give a time and date..

    3. put the whole thing in the post to you self by registered mail.. (sealed envelope)

    4. take the unopened envelope to your local notary or lawyer.  have it noterized

    and you have what we call a poor mans copyrite.. that is legal and will stand up in a court of law!

    OH BTW DO NOT ever tare any pages out of the book..

    just put a X over the part you don't want to use...  and if you need a second book do the same thing again but put volume II or what ever on the front of the new book and make reference to it in the old book. as well as referencing the first or the volume before this one..

     

    Enjoy

    image Cris H.

     

     

    BTW ONE BOOK ONE PROJECT!!

Reply

  • Brian, Did you find out who the SOB was?? can you put you hands on him....

    1. Sue him in a federal court.. image This can put him away for long time..image

    2. no imagethen have somebody break his f*in legs...image

     

    I don't know about the UK but across the pond in the states.... when you start a project...

    1. I buy a bound quadruled book at Staples. http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Staples/s0474956_sc7?$splssku$

    its about $20 here in the states

    2. write the name of the project on the first page, and a short description (your idea) as well make sure you give a time and date..

    3. put the whole thing in the post to you self by registered mail.. (sealed envelope)

    4. take the unopened envelope to your local notary or lawyer.  have it noterized

    and you have what we call a poor mans copyrite.. that is legal and will stand up in a court of law!

    OH BTW DO NOT ever tare any pages out of the book..

    just put a X over the part you don't want to use...  and if you need a second book do the same thing again but put volume II or what ever on the front of the new book and make reference to it in the old book. as well as referencing the first or the volume before this one..

     

    Enjoy

    image Cris H.

     

     

    BTW ONE BOOK ONE PROJECT!!

Children
  • in reply to phoenixcomm

    Cristina Harrison wrote:

     

    ...and you have what we call a poor mans copyrite.. that is legal and will stand up in a court of law!

    IANAL, but I would avoid poor man's copyright.  If you want an official date stamp on a copyrightable work, you can register is with the US Copyright office for only US$35 per work the last time I looked.

     

    US patents switched from "first to invent" to "first to file" last month.  This means it doesn't matter if you invented something first.  If someone else applies for the patent first, you're out of luck.  IANAL, but I suggest publishing ideas immediately.  This gives you one year to file a patent and nobody else can file a valid patent with the same idea.  After one year, nobody can file a valid patent including you.

     

    Of course, even if you're in the right and someone else's patent is invalid it can be prohibitively costly to prove it.  As I said upstream, it's a game for the rich.

  • in reply to phoenixcomm

    Cristina,

     

    Sadly no, didnt get him. Infact it is safe to say that everyone I contacted ingnored the story/issue including Kickstarter. I didnt even get any replies back from anyone!!

     

    I hear you about the poor mans patent. Im not sure that works here. But, this is not a patent matter Im having issues with - I dont care if anyone takes this design as it was just for fun/spur of moment, what I had/have an issue with is that a member took all my info, including my identity and posed as me. Where are the security checks??????

     

    For real stuff Im more than familiar with the patent route, but for small stuff like this it doesnt bother me if ideas are copied.

     

    I have done a LOT of reading on kickstarter since the issue and it now appears that the site is not as successful as they would like you to think. 90% of projects dont fund and are quickly brushed away under the carpet and nearly impossible to find. Anyone looking is swamped with hundreds that did fund and given the impression it wins on all projects.

     

    This is not the case.

     

    Im sure nothing will ever happen now at this point, but it sure does give one a dim view of their 'help' email contact address, or basic comms/security in general.

     

    Brian,

  • in reply to Former Member

    Brian

    Bummer.

    Identify theft is something that the modern world needs to get its s..t together about.

     

    I liked Paypals idea of confirming your credit card was the right one, by making a $1 charge, then coding the entry on the statement.

    When you received the statement, you entered that code as confirmation, and they credited back your $1.

     

    NZ Trademe (think ebay) does a similar address verification process, where they send you a code by post and you enter it to verify the address.

     

    Something combining those and 1 other method ... phone, work address, etc would be a system of verification, that should work no matter which country you lived in.

     

    NZ has a goverment login that is used/forced upon users, however its pretty poor, and is open to abuse, as there is no verification that you are who you claim to be.

     

    You are right about patents and copyright, as they only apply to those who respect them (like door locks), and the enforcement aspect is a major concern.

    Removing the markings and ensuring the code can't be dumped, along with realistic pricing is the cheapest method I know, along with assumming it will be copied in 12 months or less.

     

     

    mark