IndieGogo/Flexible Funding = They can take your money no matter whether they meet goal or not.
And they have met goal, and they have (as of this post) around $340,000... and the possible consequences or criminal liabilities are ZERO. Of course, we are all making the assumption that they are simply scamming the public. To play Devil's advocate
, if they are actually deluded into thinking that with enough money thrown at the problem they could actually hire the right people to make this thing happen... they will just pay some people for a few years and squander it all away when they give up.
If backers are lucky, they will post regular updates for 1-2 years, showing "progress" and maybe some prototypes or various "scientific-looking" data or photos of lab equipment, and then eventually say they can't deliver... By then most backers would have either forgotten or succumbed to "attrition" and these con artists would be sitting on money stashed up in secret Swiss bank accounts (unless they actually tried to at least make it happen and hired engineers and bought equipment).
SO either they know it's not possible and tricking everyone and plan not to spent a cent, or they are clueless and think it can happen and waste it all on development and come up with nothing. I don't know which one to believe. I also can't believe so many people would throw $299 at this thing.
Who needs a job anymore? Just come up with Star Trek gadget or Back To The Future gadget and kickstart it. A little bit of Photoshop and 3D Rendering skills is all you need, churn it through the bullshit-o-matic 5000, and that's a sure-fire ticket to a big lump cash sum. I picked the wrong profession...