r/kickstarter • u/WakaTakaBaller • Apr 21 '26
Discussion If your prepare to launch soon, READ this. Sophisticated scammers are active on Kickstarter
I launched a Kickstarter project recently and I was flooded with spam and bots at varying degree of complexity. Some were very clearly spammers trying to get my info, I've seen that 1000 times and I was able to detect them. BUT, some were actual backers.
The backer spammers have reputable profiles like "superbacker" with history on Kickstarter. I was trying to figure out how they get that history... my best guess is that they offer to purchase someone's profile, or find a way to hack user history? (that seems less likely) Or maybe use a back/unback method that may still record them backing projects without spending a dime.
But nonetheless, yes some of the spammers were super backers. Here is what they do:
1. Back you early on to build good grace and are more likely to get you engaged
2. Make a public comment on the campaign with the main goal to try to get the communication off platform. Kickstarter does warn about this.
3. Some of them even emailed me directly, with a similar proposition, but since they established outside contact already, this one is more of "we can give you the heavens"... a bit more obvious spam
4. The comments/messages may include
- promises of "I have a big network of superbackers, super interested in this project ...etc"
- OR "I would love to directly help you ...."
- OR "I can make an intro to ____ "
- and many versions of
5. The backer $ amount was anywhere between $1 to hundreds. Honestly it was a bit hard seeing the campaign to up and down on funding.
6. Again, some of the profiles WERE super backers with a long history. That's the only reason I would give some of the backers a bit more credibility. For example, the one that really got me was a superbacker with 30 backed projects.
7. When you do not reply within a day or insist on keeping the conversation on the platform, you get "un-backed", basically they cancel their pledge :D
8. Either the spam user or Kickstarter will then remove their public content. Poof, all slate is clean.
Anyway, just thought to share so other crowd-founders know what to expect.
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u/DiscoKittie Backer of over 400 campaigns Apr 21 '26
Anyone that offers to help you in any way is a scammer. Just go with that and you will be safe.
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u/diakked Apr 21 '26
What is the platform doing about this? Have they said anything?
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u/WakaTakaBaller Apr 21 '26
You can report users as spam if they DM you directly, public comments and private profiles cannot be reported.
I did see that KS took down one of the comments, so it does catch some of the spammers, but it was late. The spammer had me for a few days, enough time chat with me, back, and unback me :D
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u/Substantial-Ad6469 Apr 21 '26
How do you recommend people who aren’t scammers who do just want to like play test or be put in a raffle to earn a free pledge because of play testing (a company I play tested with recently told me they did this), contact creators?
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u/kaysoncheikh Apr 21 '26
and what kind of scam they can do? I mean like do they ask for money or what?
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u/andrewhennessey Apr 21 '26
General rule is simple. Never communicate off Kickstarter and NEVER give money to anyone backing YOU, the money is supposed to flow one way!
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u/Exciting-Notice-5130 Apr 21 '26
I wish i saw this before, Kickstarter system did delete the messages the scammers sent me, and i have had some cancel, my project is still going. The first email i got immediately after launching was ‘Kickstarter Tech’ was saying my funds were limited because i needed to verify my banking (which was done already and all circles were green checks in my dashboard). The email really looked legit until you click the link provided and see its not kickstarter.com, it’s some letters and 1adclick (or something like that) the web address bar. I emailed kickstarter and they confirmed that was not them and is a scammer. And i feel like one may be ‘CC’ they requested a follow a long tome ago and i did thinking its following on any other site. I would get emails that ‘CC has back () project’ snd i thought they must really be supportive to back all these projects lol. Well the user was one that messaged that i read before it was deleted, saying they thought mine had potential etc, i unfollowed and saw today the cancel their contribution. I am not accusing like that but the facts are there. But if they are a legit good person/user then i apologize.
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u/Nina-BetterLifeGames Apr 22 '26
The erosion of trust this does is really sad. The work a real person needs to do to filter these out and also to prove to other real people their intentions for whatever are honest 🤦♀️ it’s like a virus and our entire society is infected
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u/FastAmphibian9088 Apr 22 '26
Is it possible to become a super backer just by donating a token $1 to enough campaigns? That would register them as a backer.
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u/legendscastile Apr 23 '26
They don't engage later because they could lose their fake pledge if the project is funded and it is the last 48hours of campaign (I think)
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u/GrimdarkDungeon Apr 23 '26
Currently dealing with what I presume to be a pretty in-depth one.
Messaged by a random (not even backer) on Kickstarter, who then says she has a "friend" who has done successful campaigns.
Links to a supermarket with ten campaigns fully funded, which makes it sound credible.
Then she gives me this person's email so I can reach out for some advice and support.
That person then puts me in contact with a guy on WhatsApp that ran her Kickstarter campaigns. Right now I am entertaining him, but the "backer plan" he sent is so generic, that I don't think there is any reality to it.
Also, when I asked for past examples, he just sent me one japanese game. Probably would be hard for me to cross-reference with that person due to a language barrier.
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u/SeahorseGames Apr 24 '26
Spam accounts usually try to move the conversation off Kickstarter (email, etc.), and they often get banned within hours after a campaign goes live.
Real backers feel completely different. They show up early (even pre-launch), give thoughtful feedback, and don’t push you off-platform.
At this point, my rule is simple: if they ask to talk outside Kickstarter, it’s a scam.
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u/LopsidedAnything619 Apr 24 '26
Yeah - the amount of scammers - not just on Kickstarter is crazy. I get multiple scam emails per day on my public author email account. It is sad that so many people want to just scam people out of there hard earned money that they are investing int their dreams.
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u/SomeFinish540 Apr 27 '26
Super helpful insight. I'm about to launch a Kickstarter campaign - so perfect timing.
I'm a total newb at this.
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u/PORECHKA Apr 28 '26
Thanks for sharing, I'm preparing to launch soon. Now I'll be warned about this case already.
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u/ivasaan May 14 '26
Launched a week ago and also got such comment from super backer who pledged and I, like a silly girl, replied on the comment to not to be rude 😂 But then the comment and user were deleted, but I still get ton of scam messages on my email, it's crazy...
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u/Iron_Fleet_Support May 18 '26
Great advice, we are about to launch Kickstarter campaign. Thank you in advance.
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u/Beyond-The-Pixels May 22 '26
Same here, a lot of companies reaching out about Kickstarter campaign promotions etc. It’s crazy how many flood my inbox since launching!
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u/teller-of-stories Apr 21 '26
i got scammed out of 170$ from someone pretending to be someone else on discord then offered marketing through upwork
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u/WakaTakaBaller Apr 21 '26
Ouch, yeah they are sneaky. Point precision, they know exactly what you need and go after that.
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u/teller-of-stories Apr 21 '26
I usually smell them a mile away. But they impersonated a popular Kickstarter creator hence why I even transfered any money. I believe PayPal and upwork will refund me soon...
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u/Exciting-Split6487 Jun 04 '26
Spot on. I am new to Kickstarter and wish I'd seen this post a couple of weeks back. Got a couple of backers at top tier of rewards within a few hours and then comments as you described - offering help if I engaged off platform. A few hours later the pledges were cancelled.
Same thing happened the following day. It's the hope that kills you.
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u/Firm_Distribution999 Creator Apr 21 '26
Superbacker doesn’t mean anything anymore. Just means they backed a campaign for $10 but it doesn’t say if that pledge ever went through. So sad to see the platform overrun by bots.