Is indiegogo.com legit or a scam?
Legitimate crowdfunding platform with 19-year history, but plagued by unvetted scam campaigns and poor backer protection.
These checks passed — but they don't clear the site. A clean antivirus result, valid SSL, and a calm server only mean it isn't hosting malware; they say nothing about whether the business is real. This verdict is based on the site's conduct and content, not a malware detection.
Analysis Summary
Shop shows non-delivery red flags
Legitimate crowdfunding platform with 19-year history, but plagued by unvetted scam campaigns and poor backer protection. Several red flags typical of non-delivery shops are present. Don't pay by crypto or wire, and keep the chargeback window in mind.
Website Preview
Automated page render — captured in a safe sandbox. What an ordinary visitor would see when loading the site.
MT Intelligence
Indiegogo.com is the official domain of a registered US corporation founded in 2008 and recently acquired by Gamefound — the infrastructure, SSL, and domain age all confirm legitimacy. However, the evidence package reveals a consistent pattern: the platform hosts numerous fraudulent campaigns, and backers report losing money with no refunds or platform accountability. BBB records show 65 complaints in the last three years; an independent review aggregator, Reddit, and review aggregators document campaigns that fail to deliver products or perks. The platform's terms explicitly limit its liability, and users report that customer service refuses to intervene. While Indiegogo itself is not a scam operator, it functions as a marketplace where scammers operate with impunity — making it high-risk for backers despite the company's legitimate registration and long operational history.
Web Research Findings
Our live research agent queries scam-report databases, consumer-review sites, news coverage, and general web search for indiegogo.com, then cross-checks business-registration records and look-alike domain patterns. Everything below is pulled from what it actually found.
- indiegogo.com is the official domain of Indiegogo, Inc., a major US-based crowdfunding platform founded in 2008 in San Francisco and acquired by Gamefound in July 2025.
- High volume of backer complaints on BBB (65 in last 3 years), Trustpilot, Reddit, and review sites about campaigns failing to deliver products/perks with no refunds or platform accountability.
- Common pattern: platform hosts campaigns but states it has limited responsibility; many users report lost money on non-delivered or fraudulent-looking projects.
- Scamadviser rates it as likely safe with high traffic, but notes several negative reviews.
- Company is a registered Delaware corporation; requires KYC/verification for creators; has been subject to general crowdfunding scam discussions (e.g., money laundering via fake campaigns).
- Domain age of ~19 years and Wikipedia/LinkedIn presence confirm it is not a new or impersonating site.
- Recent acquisition by Gamefound noted in official support pages and press releases.
- BBB.orgopen
"Indiegogo routinely allows scammers to use and abuse their website, posting fake products and promotions while accepting 0 financial responsibility when THEIR customers get ripped off."
- BestCompany.comopen
"The worst crowdfunding site, full of scam campaigns. Indiegogo does nothing to help get you money back, or even to contact the campaign owners. Steer clear of ..."
- Trustpilotopen
"Proceed at your own risk. There are no guarantees you'll get what you spent your money on. Customer service won't try to help you and will always respond in ..."
- Redditopen
"I have been using Indiegogo in the past and never did I actually know that campaigners can take the money and never deliver on the perks."
- G2.comopen
"However, they are actually a site promoting fraud, by encouraging dishonest vendors to 'create' campaigns and not fulfill their obligations."
- Scamadviser.comopen
"It seems that indiegogo.com is legit and safe to use and not a scam website. ... This website is receiving a lot of traffic according to Tranco (500)"
- Business.orgopen
"Users consistently praise the platform for its ease of use and variety of projects available, making it a good option for both creators and backers."
Indiegogo, Inc. is a Delaware corporation, founded 2008, headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Acquired by Gamefound in July 2025. Wikipedia, LinkedIn, company terms, and PR confirm long-term operation with 38M+ members.
BBB records document 65 complaints over the last three years, with backers reporting campaigns that fail to deliver products or perks and the platform refusing refunds. an independent review aggregator, Reddit, and independent review sites contain consistent complaints about lost money and unresponsive customer service. BestCompany.com and G2.com describe Indiegogo as 'the worst crowdfunding site, full of scam campaigns' and note that the platform 'encourages dishonest vendors' without fulfilling obligations. However, independent traffic-ranking services confirm the site is legitimate and receives substantial traffic. The platform's terms explicitly state limited liability for campaign failures, which is disclosed but widely misunderstood by backers who expect refund protection.
Antivirus Engines
Security Scans
Checked against the major public blocklists used by browsers and security tools — no hits.
Domain & Encryption
Redirect Chain
- 1301http://indiegogo.com/
- 2301https://indiegogo.com/
- 3403https://www.indiegogo.com/cross-domain
Server Reputation
Scam-Type Likelihood
1 scam-type patterns detected
1 of 13 categories showed signals
We check every URL against 13 distinct scam categories so the verdict tells you not just how risky the page is, but what kind of risk it carries. Each meter pulls from page signals, web reports, our AI analyst, vision, and the scam-network cluster — not from raw AV labels.
- AI analyst tagged this as a fake shop.
- No phone number or postal address anywhere on the page.
1 of 13 categories showed signals
We check every URL against 13 distinct scam categories so the verdict tells you not just how risky the page is, but what kind of risk it carries. Each meter pulls from page signals, web reports, our AI analyst, vision, and the scam-network cluster — not from raw AV labels.
- AI analyst tagged this as a fake shop.
- No phone number or postal address anywhere on the page.
Fake-shop warning signs
Signals common to non-delivery scam shops were detected on this site.
- Treat indiegogo.com as unverified
Do not enter credentials or send money until you have independently verified the business.
- If you already paid by card or PayPal — start a chargeback
Contact your bank or card issuer and dispute the charge as "goods not received" or "merchant fraud." PayPal users can open a case in the Resolution Centre. Act within 120 days for card chargebacks in most jurisdictions.
- Save every piece of evidence
Screenshots of the checkout, order confirmation emails, any chat transcripts, and the product listing page. Chargeback and fraud reports go faster when you have receipts.
- OpenReport the shop
Report to the FTC (reportfraud.ftc.gov), Action Fraud UK, or your local consumer-protection body. Post the URL on the MalwareTips scam forum so other buyers can find it.
Reputation Sources
How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.
Safety FAQ
Common questions about this site, answered directly from the scan data above — so the answers always reflect the latest verdict on this page.
- Our automated security review marked indiegogo.com as suspicious. Several warning signs were detected; it may still turn out legitimate, but you should verify it through independent channels before trusting it with money or credentials.
- indiegogo.com currently scores 55/100 on our trust scale. We found enough warning signals to recommend caution. Verify the site through independent channels before entering credentials or money.
- Yes. indiegogo.com presents a valid TLSv1.3 certificate issued by Google Trust Services · WE1, expiring in 87 days. Note that SSL only encrypts the connection — it does not guarantee that the site itself is trustworthy.
- indiegogo.com is 19.2 years old, registered on 4/19/2007 through GoDaddy.com, LLC. Scam domains are often freshly registered — a site under 6 months old warrants extra caution.
- No. All 92 antivirus engines in our malware network report indiegogo.com as clean.
- No. indiegogo.com is not currently listed on the major browser blocklist feeds that modern browsers use.
- indiegogo.com resolves to an IP operated by Cloudflare, Inc. in US (usage type: Content Delivery Network). Hosting location alone doesn't make a site good or bad, but unusual geography for a brand's claimed country is one of many signals we weigh.
- Yes. indiegogo.com sits in the global top-100k on Cloudflare Radar, which means it has substantial real-world traffic. That does not automatically make it safe, but established brands almost always rank here and throwaway scam domains almost never do.
User reviews & comments(0)
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