Supporters of LightFreq, a smart LED bulb integrated with speakers, have not received the product, despite being overdue for eight months, reported TNW news recently.

LightFreq’s Kickstarter campaign in August 2014 was a success, and met its targeted goal of US $50,000 in less than four days. The campaign went onto raise more than five times the intended goal to rake in a total of $275,000.

LightFreq Intercom Demo from Lightfreq on Vimeo.

Devon Alli, the founder of the campaign, however, failed to deliver the product to backers. In addition, he has not paid Dynamo the company he collaborated with on Kickstarter.

Lightfreq launched in August 2014.

The founder told Dynamo he had not received the funds from Kickstarter, but still failed to pay up after receiving the funds.

A Dynamo spokesperson made the following statement:

 “We carefully vet all approaches for crowdfunding as much as we are able to, and are equally disappointed and frustrated that the creators behind this campaign appear to have disappeared after the Kickstarter campaign closed, with no clear plan to fulfil pledges and leaving behind a trail of unpaid invoices.”

Failed shipment to backers of the first generation LightFreq product has not stopped Alli from launching a new Indiegogo campaign to finance the mass production of LightFreq Square 2.

The campaign was prematurely closed by Indiegogo, but had raised more than US $77,000 . LightFreq received $70,765, the remainder was raised during the InDemand phase when the campaign was being investigated, and was not taken in.

The TNW report highlighted crowdfunding platforms were not doing enough background checks and investigations to protect backers from swindlers.

The report also revealed Ali had a long and recent arrest record including assault with a deadly weapon, forgery in the first degree, possession of a firearm while committing a felony. He also has several aliases. It has also been very difficult to get in touch with other project officers, since no surnames were provided.

The report recommended backers of Kickstarter projects to proceed with caution, and to make sure there was a working prototype before investing money in any project.

For further details about the case please see here.