This is Corey Herscu, one of the partners at Herscu & Goldsilver. I am responding to the original post by shittykickstarters, which, if there is any doubt among the perceptive members who commented, was written in an attempt to deflect blame from the BioRing campaign for what I am about to disclose. It will also become clear why this poster has maliciously disparaged our name and reputation: he's blaming the victim.

Yes, we are a real Canadian publicity firm that promotes crowdfunded campaigns. And yes, we represent innovative applied technology start-ups that use crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo to generate seed capital, market exposure, and a customer base. We are not, however, involved in the management of the campaign or in any aspect of the product development. We rely on the campaign owner(s) to be truthful and honest with us.

As a publicity firm, we also take a risk with crowdfunding, just like the backers. Our agreements with campaign owners are typically based on a percentage of funds raised. Their success is our success. And their failure is shared and felt by us. We did faithfully and diligently represent BioRing on various social media platforms until the original funding deadline, but the campaign owner then refused to pay our fee, per our standard written agreement. Soon after, it came to our attention that concerned backers and consumer advocates had set up a Facebook group and page accusing BioRing of being a vaporware scam. After further investigation, to our horror, we concluded that the accusations were true: BioRing was based on non-existent micro-miniature components and a see-through rendering made from a hand-drawn sketch, not an actual electrical schematic or working prototype.

Furthermore, we learned that some of the claims and promises made in the campaign are utterly non-feasible - namely inductive charging over a curved surface and through conductive metal. The campaign also offered a limited edition of 40 18K gold bands for $300 above the standard ceramic material, however buried deep in the FAQs at the bottom of the campaign, this edition is specified as gold-FILLED, not solid gold. This is deceptive advertising that is criminally actionable.

It also became clear from the nature of the frequent campaign updates that BioRing has no working prototype, no intention of showing or producing one, and is only concerned with bilking more money out of unsuspecting backers by asking them to upgrade to more expensive materials and purchase an extended warranty/14-day return guarantee for an additional $35 per ring.

Finally, BioRing falsely claimed to be in partnership with BackerKit for product surveys and fulfillment, and prominently featured the BackerKit logo in the campaign's main page. However, a representative from BackerKit denied the service provider ever had a working relationship with BioRing, and forced Indiegogo to remove the logo from the campaign. A quick scan of the campaign comments page makes it clear that BioRing has no method or system for collecting and confirming survey responses, leading to widespread frustration and distrust among backers.

In light of BioRing's refusal to honor our agreement, its unprofessional and dishonest communications, its blatant misrepresentation of their product, and its refusal to issue refunds on demand, we have taken the unprecedented decision to join forces with the victimized backers and investigative journalists who are working to expose the BioRing scam. Given the refusal of Indiegogo to suspend the campaign despite increasing backer complaints and violation reports, the BioRing 'scampaign' continues to lure new backers and bilk them of their hard-earned money and trust. We urge everyone commenting on the original post and reading this response to visit the Facebook page below, which is dedicated to educating the public about the BioRing scam.

https://m.facebook.com/BioRingFraud/

We have also locked the BioRing team members out of their own Official BioRing Facebook page, Twitter account, and YouTube channel, which we created and maintained as part of our original agreement. Instead, we have allowed volunteer consumer advocates to speak directly to anyone who sends a message to the BioRing Facebook page, warning them of the scam, and urging them to file charge-backs with their credit cards while there is still time, since BioRing and Indiegogo refuse to issue refunds. On Indiegogo, the BioRing team has falsely claimed that the official Facebook page has been hacked by "greedy and jealous competitors," and that they are attempting to restore it. That is a flat-out lie, since we are the page's sole administrator.

This has been a very difficult and humbling experience for us. We are victims of the BioRing 'scampaign' no less than its 3,000+ backers, except that our losses are in the tens of thousands of dollars, not just a few hundreds. As a small firm, this has devastated us, and we have no means of recovering our losses. We learned a painful lesson about misplaced trust. Moving forward, we will hire engineers and other consultants to vet each and every technology-based campaign and ensure that we are supporting a viable project and that the claims and promises made in the campaigns are credible. No other publicity, marketing, and promotional firms currently go to such lengths, but in light of the fiscal damage and harm to reputation scams like BioRing can cause, they may have no choice. We will also change our policy regarding who we partner with, given he difficulty of legally pursuing breach of contract in a foreign country. Finally, we will join the many consumer advocates seeking to reform the crowdfunding business model, which offers little to no protection for backers, while allowing scams and poorly managed projects to exploit the platform.

If anyone wishes to discuss this issue with us, we invite you to write us at c at hgdreamte.am