Except in the case where the Kickstart is funded, the money is taken, and then the project never delivers. That's of course the risk, but if the project never r

Except in the case where the Kickstart is funded, the money is taken, and then the project never delivers. That's of course the risk, but if the project never really intended to deliver (i.e. a scam or fraud) Kickstarter can potentially lean back and say that it's not a store so you can't reasonably expect any return. The problem with that position is that CHARITY fraud is also a real thing and there's a whole host of agencies that care about it (FTC, FBI, IRS). I guess my point is that whether or not you expect a tangible reward, the outcome of a Kickstart is unchanged: your contribution is expected to create something new in the world. If Kickstarter systematically ignores fraudulent projects and "inventors" then the problem is deeper than simply not supporting what you don't like, inasmuch as saying "if a Ponzi scheme doesn't sound good, then don't invest in it" doesn't actually make Ponzi schemes legal.