![]() The project goes viral and closes at $3 million CAD.Īlas, Znaps is yet another Kickstarter scam. They even admit they are not the first product on the market to have this capability, but that they have a patent on the product (no further details given). ![]() Looking through the project, everything seems to be in order from a technical perspective. The project is even being funded in CAD, so that seems to check out. The creator of the project Phiona (Pui Woon Leung) clearly states that they are based out of Canada. Znaps*, launched on Kickstarter in July 2015, promised to bring the magnetic connection seen on Mac laptops to mobile phones and more. Nbition has not publicized any other startups that they are incubating, and Arist has not delivered a finished product in the three years since the campaign. To recap so far: the Arist startup is being incubated at Nbition Development, and the main contact for both companies is Nelson Chiu. They also have Nelson Chiu listed as the main contact (pg. While Nbition calls themselves an engineering incubator, the only project referenced to is Arist. is the supposed incubator that the product was developed in. With some quick searching through Hong Kong incubator programs, I found that Nbition Development Ltd. Even the Arist website does not list an office location. There is no mention of where they are based in the project description or in the updates, but there are vague references to Hong Kong being their location. Remember these names, as they become important later. The Kickstarter scam project lists Benson Chiu and Nelson Chiu as the chief officers of Arist. I read through the 41 updates that have been posted to the project, the most recent of which was March 10 of this year, and they alternate between issues with product, issues with funding, promises of delivering a better project, and talk of the founders global travel/vacations. Now, two and a half years later, backers are still commenting that they have not received their pledged rewards or refunds. Everything seemed kosher with the product and every major tech new outlet was covering their success. With a very detailed plan and great looking product shots, Arist quickly surpassed their goal by almost 10x. The story of Nibition starts with the Arist smart coffee brewer launched on Kickstarter in October of 2014. Not a single one of these projects has successfully delivered a product to their backers and each of them are a Kickstarter scam. In my research, I have found a half dozen ‘businesses’ and projects that can all be tied back to Nbition Development Limited ( edit: 04.06.17 11:00 the Nbition website – – has been taken down, web archive link added). The problem is, all of these projects are a scam. There is a school in Hong Kong teaching people the recipe to create the perfect project on crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. UPDATE: See Part 2 for the latest news on the Chiu brothers. UPDATE 2: The Nbition website has been taken down… UPDATE 3: See my guide of tips and tools for avoiding getting scammed on crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
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