The white van speakers scam

I've been approached twice with that exact same deal. white van, speakers, no cash, where's your atm.....

 

HA! Back in high school, some wanker sold a friend of mine a radar detector box with a brick in it.

I can't count how many times someone has approached me with the same scam. I've even recognized the same person on a couple of accusations pulling the same scam at various gas stations & video stores.

Ask him if they give police discounts & watch how fast they drive off.

 

Here is a thread with some good info on the subject from another board I frequent:

White van speaker tech

 

I have not seen that one yet.

 

Friend of mine tried to buy an Xbox in NYC when they first came out. ALLL Bricks when he got home. I told him he was a F-ing idiot. He goes to high school to school the burbs, i went to school the Bronx. You see u do learn something in High school

 

I've had them try it on me once from a white van at a gas station.

The strange one, though, is when people in a Lincoln Navigator started yelling at me about it at a red light. They were just yelling at people waiting at the light. Then they drove off like madmen...really insane...

 

I had it happen too. A shirtless redneck drove up to me. I was in my convertible with the top down. He said he had "top of the line" cerwin vega home theatre speakers that he would sell me for $400 a piece. I told him no thanks that I had all Bowers and Wilkins in my theatre(I don't even have a theatre room). He told me that what I had was crap and I should upgrade to his cerwin vegas and he would give me a great deal and install them for me. LOL

I have not had that happen to me again but I keep getting approached in parking lots by people with boxes of knock-off cologne at least twice a month.

 

I was approached by guys in white vans twice in one year, 1986! The first time they were simple three way speakers called Ultra Accoustic. They looked kind of cheap and being a cheap skeptic I said, "No thanks".

Nine months later in another town, another white van, Can't even remember the name on them but he started out at 400 for the pair. I had him pull the front off of one and saw that the midrange was made by Motorola! Yeah right.

"Naw, I don't think so"..........he finally lowered his price to 100.00. Nope, don't have the room.

Ironically, I had a stereo given to me a few years later and the speakers were ULTRA ACCOUSTICS.

I still have them 15 years later and they actually work pretty good next to my 35 year old Realistics

 

No big deal....that is just their pitch.

DL

 

the speaker nerds scammed a friend of mine here. they sold him real speakers for $400 and they dont work. same white van set up. last time one of the dweebs approached me and i had to say "N0".... TWICE, i made damn sure he caught a casual glimpse of my .45, which i have a permit for. i mentioned the contact with them to a local cop, who said he did not care as no crime was commited. he did like the tritium night sights i have on my custom .45 though. guess they had better things to do.

 

What I wanna know is, how does that white van get so many places? Must have rented it with a GPS and Nav system.

He was outside my ATM a few months ago, he's been in Texas, California, all over the friggin place.

He's gonna have one hell of a overage bill on the mileage for that rental when he returns it!

DM

 

I am aware of a couple of acquaintances who've been gullible enough to fall for this kind of operation. Neither were they robbed, nor sold bricks, but the speakers they recieved were utter garbage. Those 'white van' guys are making a tidy profit selling $25 worth of components for hundreds of dollars.

 

Ok, i'll chime in. As an audiophile for decades, a magazine editor, etc.

The speakers are generally considered junk. The woofer appears to use a small magnet last i heard. The cabinet is made of cheap chip board or some such.

Best bet, call the cops and get the license plate info too.

FYI: http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?q=white+van+speakers

 

When they ask to drive to your bank, just drive to a police station!

 

This thread is funny because it has made me remember the couple of times I've been approached in the malls as well. It's been at least ten years though that I can remember.

 

You guys are funny........

Do you pull your guns and call the FCC on Ron Popeil for pitching his POS rotisserie on TV every night?

WTF? DON'T BUY THEM!

***Around here if you say no to the speakers, they pull out the cookware and the organizers.***

DL

 

well you guys are going to laugh but....this exact thing happened to me in '98. but my buddy had the cash on hand, and while he waited at the van, i took the speakers into the office and tested them and verified they were actually what he said they were. they were exactly as advertised and mega speakers. he bought them and didnt regret it (still has them).

i know they were probably stolen and that buying them was wrong (but hey it wasnt me!). but sometimes these scams have victims other than you the buyer.

 

My apologies to all law enforcement folks but... Small time crime, no revenue for the State/City... doubt the police will do much about it. "Not worth their time" UNLESS some Big Time official gets ripped off. THEN the police might actually DO something about it.

No one is physically injured. There is grey area due to you buying from a van. Yeah, it is a scam but the effort for the police/judicial is what it is. So basically the police won't bother much it seems.

i KNOW a few officers DO look at this board so would LOVE to hear their side of this.

 

One of these white vans pulled up to me last week and the guy tried to sell me ten cases of Energizer Batteries! They had a stuffed bunny in handcuffs and said we will release the bunny if I buy the batteries!

 

For the record, These speakers are not stolen. There are ads in the newspapers recruiting salespeople to market them in this manner. There is no crime being committed here.

....and I wouldn't buy them either

DL

***EDIT: Pete, LMAO!!! ***

 

I WONDER HOW BRUCE IS TAKING THIS?