OH HELLO WE ARE BACK! SO COOL AN UPDATE, ENJOY IT!
Why after almost 12 months, we come back to blame the CORONAVIRUS for raising price of monitor, regardless that we ran away before IT HAPPAN! But, FEAR NOT, we will begin "production" again and "ship" this "monitor" to you, our customers. ALL OF YOU ARE HAPPY That this is finally happening that it MAKES OUR PANTS SWELL WITH MEATY JOY. Let's see what our customers have to say about our news!
WOW! THE response is overwhelming! IT BRINGS A TEAR SHAPPED LIKE A DOLLAR SIGN TO MY EYE. We care about you and will tell you how are you all right after the epidemic rages!
Oh hi! Welcome to our new scam website! We are happy you are here!
Why, hello there, scam victim! I'm Travis Clark, and I may or may not exist. I go by the username of UNICK, pronounced 'eunuch', which means "man without a penis". Over the course of a few months, myself and my band of fellow scammers were able to scam roughly $2.4 million from users, promising them a state-of-the-art monitor that I didn't create! Since I was too much of a chicken shit to actually come back to my investors and cite problems or provide updates (ha, updates? really?), myself and my glorious team of people, who also might not exist, decided to just run away with the money! Additionally, it only took me close to seven months to realize that this domain name was on my profile, so I removed it so I can continue to scam people. I'm so crafty!
And, I'm Andy Shuw, CEO of TAIHE International Scam, Ltd. When I'm not trying to scam people by selling counterfeit shoes and creating other companies that will walk away with investments, I enjoy cuddling up to Travis Clark because he is void of penis and spending time teaching my child and my fucking ugly ass wife how to scam people as well. I anticipate that within a few years time, he will be stealing kid's lunch money on the playground! Anything to make a quick buck, because I honestly only care about money.
Last, but crtantly not lease, I am faceless taihemarket@aliyun.com! Dear All backerof Vinpok, I mean, TAIHE GEMINI SUPER PRODUCT! Happy for messages to be read by you, the reader! Shame! We get many money, only produce few monitor, all broken! and not working! You receive it as carrier CALL YOU. YOU not get call? SRANGE! We send out product, MAYBE, and it get held by corrier to GOT DESTROYED! BOGUS! Anyhow, pls you don't get happy monitor but we really update you on this custom fees.What a pity! Don't worry your face! We still ship out all product to everyone, every month! Proove in the emails that have all tracking! PLEASE TO STANDBY as DHL destroy your product. Also I don't read a email! Why bother!
But seriously, instead of providing legitimate updates to my many investors, leaving them lingering for months and months on end while I swim in their money, only to seldomly post vague, broken-English updates that really don't explain much, and failure to reply to email and message updates on the collaborations sites, I just decided to walk away with the cash, because the Terms of Service on both sites basically allow me to. So, I guess it's a win! See you guys (and your wallets) in a few months time with a new fake company, with a new fake product!
(Us three guys spent all of our time in a contest to see how many office supplies we could shove into our ass. Matthew won the contest.)
Now, it's time for a little Q&A:
1. What can I do about this?
Nothing really. Scammers can legitimately hide behind the TOS of Indiegogo and Kickstarter as they plainly state that they take their fees, disperse the rest of the money to the collaborator, and then turn their backs on the project, basically offering up canned responses such as "Nothing we can do, go ahead and take them to court for failure to deliver the product" or "We emailed them again and hope to hear back!" Keep marking yourselves as dissatisfied with the project's progress and posting that you did not receive the product/want a refund; you are only posting for the disgruntled masses to read.
2. Well, can we take them to court?
Absolutely! There is nothing that stops you from taking a "company" such as TAIHE to court....except a lot! For starters, it takes some coin to start a lawsuit, and serious coin to start a serious lawsuit, such as a Class Action Lawsuit. How about Indiegogo and Kickstarter? Well, you agree to their terms and services to use the website, sooo. And really, good luck finding a lawyer that wants to venture into a CAL with a company overseas. By the time you are done, and if you win (big IF), years later, you would be out more money than it's worth. By all means, try, however, realize that there is seldom a light at the end of that tunnel. Overseas companies have their own rules, obligations, and laws in effect.
3. What can I do in the future to protect my money when it comes to investing with collaborators on these sites?
Well, nothing really, aside from ceasing all monetary interactions with these sites, no matter how enticing the product/project appears to be. The only advice I can give is never, NEVER, invest more than you are willing to lose. Research alone is never enough, because, at any time, for any reason, a project collaborator can say "Welp, I have no money, sorry guys, you won't get the product! See yas!" and then disappear into the ether. I feel, as well as others, that the initial verification process can be so easily fooled. This, combined with shady TOS written wildly in the favor of those who write them can only provide a podium to host a slew of scam products and transactions amidst legitimacy.
You can ask yourself a few questions:
Do I really need this product?
Is this legitimate (the product, the company, the collaborator)?
Would I rather invest a smaller amount of money for a potential that this project will fail vs paying a higher MSRP for it at a store?
Research over the course of a few months to over a year that have shown that even legitimate products can be used as canvases on scam projects on crowdfunding sites, much like our aforementioned dynamic duo, with ease. Creating several to coexist between sites with just the right amount of advertising, and a potential scammer can rake in the cash and leave town. Bearing this in mind, alongside the tightly-written TOS on these sites that concede operations regardless of project outcome, there is a severe risk that one must understand when backing a crowdfunding project.
4. Seriously, there MUST be something that can be done.
That's not a question, but yes, there is. Overall, the issue lies with the sites that offer these services, namely Indiegogo and Kickstarter. And, the only way to really get their attention is to stop using their services. Banding together, a dramatic dip in their user base and incoming investment, makes their overall portfolio look dim. With that, why would a potential, legitimate project collaborator want to use their services? At the end of the day; money talks. We fight with our wallets and make them see that they have drastic issues on their sites.
Until the crowdfunding sites take a long, hard look at their TOS and do more to hold collaborators responsible as opposed to their strongest method of sending them a canned-email linking them to their TOS (that'll show them!)
5. Why did you create this website?
Because, like yourself, I'm pissed that not only TAIHE decided to walk away with the money, but, that Indiegogo and Kickstarter failed to protect their investors. Keep in mind that this website was NOT hacked, it was simply purchased when the domain expired. Also, that is not me in the picture :). I saw an opportunity, since a vast majority of their advertising, SEO, and links from reviewers redirect to this site. I'd like this word to spread. Advertise the shit out of this website!
6. Can I contact you?
Sure. Email scam@trytaihe.com at this website, and I'll get it. I may or may not reply. Those that discover who I am, all I ask is that you don't reveal who did this. Feel free to advertise this all over the place, though!
7. What would you like to see happen as a result?
A few things, actually. Accountability. Responsibility. Compassion. Refunds. All these things are missed, not only from the collaborator, but from their crowdfunding hosting pages. A legitimate collaborator would do any/all research available to manufacturing their product and services. A legitimate crowdfunding website would peer into the individual collaborations that are compromised. Any collaborator would realize the risk of the potential initial investment not being enough, roadblocks along the way, and know when to bow out, just like that restaurant that opened around the corner and was around for only a month before closing their doors. The risk is shared between the investors and the collaborators when it comes to loss of money. I feel that we would not hold the collaborator OR the crowdfunding sites responsible for a failed project if these values are entrusted and upheld; it happens. We would in the cases where the collaborator vanishes with the bank account with the crowdfunding sites stopping us at the door with a copied-and-pasted response that contains the HTML equivalent of them turning their backs.
Links of Interest:
Taihe Gemini Portable Screen - Kickstarter Fail by AndroidAndyUKIs this crowdfunding a scam? - LinusTechTips forum post
Vinpok Split and Taihe Gemini same manufacter? scam? - Reddit post by u/lexaf0
Lot's of negative reviews on their own Facebook page - which also ceased to be updated.
Lilbits 380: Taihe Gemini crowdfunding fail - Brad Linder on 1/31/2020
OH LOOK, OTHER LIKE PROJECTS THAT ARE ALSO POTENTIAL SCAMS ON Kickstarter and Indiegogo! (Also, Kenneth, I heard you, loud and clear.)
Desklab
Anata
Lumonitor
BladeX
Vinpok
Some of these manufacturers are following suit in not delivering the product, giving a bad name to these projects and items, not to mention a bad reputation to Kickstarter and Indiegogo, but, their support model is doing that all by themselves. Personally, I feel that there can be legitimate projects coming out of the China region, however, they have to understand the masses when there are lack of updates and personal responses to comments or questions. If you are one of these projects listed above, or affiliated to, GIVE 110%! Remember, WE MAKE OR BREAK YOU.
This website is best viewed with a monitor, but not one purchased from Taihe.