"White Van Speaker Scam"
 

I know many of you have heard of the white van speaker scam in the past, as have I. It's never happened to me personally, until today however. Thankfully I was aware of it before my encounter today with these guys:

I was at a gas station by Dixie and Britannia. Right before I got into my car this dude in a big blue van yells at me, "Dude! I got some Bose speakers to give away! My boss accidentally put seven of them in my truck when I only needed five, so I have two and I don't know what to do with them!"

I was really hesitant, but then the guy said "I'll give you one for free!" So I pulled up next to him and I asked him to show me the speakers, instead he pulls out some outdated Best Buy flyer and he points to this sound system with the model number 'N70', it didn't even say Bose, it had some other brand on it that I'd never heard of before. Then he's like "I'll give it to you for $300, no $200!" I made up some lame excuse as to why I couldn't cough up the cash and I left.

I can't believe it actually happened to me, I thought this speaker scam stuff stopped happening. At least I was aware of it so I knew it wasn't legit, I mean the dude couldn't even prove that the speakers were "Bose".

A few years ago:

-I got scammed by this exact thing.
-Found out when I got home
-I was FURIOUS (and i'm not a small guy) so I went hunting
-I found them, chased them through traffic, pulled in front of them in the middle of a 4 lane busy street
-Jumped out (and lost my shit)
-Literally scared them so badly they gave me my money back
-Threw the speakers out in the road and sped off
-Won the day.

Is this a Canadian thing .. ??


humfrz

First time I've heard of that before. Nonetheless, I ignore people who say suspicious things, and wave them off.

Happened to me before. I asked how ohms they were. They couldn't answer. I was a little scared because they wanted me to enter their van to look at them, thought I was going to get abducted. They told me they were featured in a magazine. It was an ad in the back few pages.

Even if they are legit you will be so pissed you'll want your money back.

Best Offered Somewhere Else.

My stepdad and i got scammed by this exact same thing 30 years ago - it's been going on that long. same kind of deal - forgot where the guy approached us; but offered this story about extra speakers OEM'd for a famous brand etc. i don't remember if they were labeled - they were large, black speakers.

my stepdad was skeptical, and said "we need to try them out first" and the guy followed us back to our house which was only a couple of blocks away (bad idea probably, but whatever). we had a mediocre stereo system in our house with small speakers, and when we hooked up the speakers, they sounded great, so my stepdad gave him something like $80 for two. those things lasted at least 20 years until they moved, and we got a lot of use out of them. not being audiophiles, they sounded great to us, LOL.

So they're selling fake/generic speakers in a shady way.

Most adults are smart enough to realize, but they will still buy a deal even if they are fakes.

nah it's not as common today as it used to be since you know internet scams.


Back a few years though you would have some here and there (US included), sometimes it was people with fake/offbrand shit trying to scam you; once in a while, if you were lucky it actually was a guy with some stolen shit from a bestbuy or some other chain (I know people who bought "legit" stolen shit from these types of guys, and some that got ripped off)

My #1 rule on buying anything: if I didn't come to you to purchase, then I'm not interested and leave me alone. This goes for legit door to door sales people too.

Bose are indeed white van speakers,and people pay even more than you could have....

I've been given the pitch once. Was a nice waste of time, letting them on...

Interesting. I was chilling drinking a coffee in a Sears parking lot one morning I had nothing to do. Some guys in a white van said they had a free home theater system if I was interested. They seemed really surprised when I said no thanks. They tried again but I ignored them and they drove off.

So what exactly is the scam. They get you to pay for some cheap junk speakers that they claim are awesome?

I'm confused - you said you got scammed, but that they sounded great and lasted 20 years??

Kinda sounds like not a bad deal.

I've run into this scam a few times, when I lived in FL, back in the late 80's. Never bought them though.

That's the scam - they actually sound like crap, and people don't realize it. Kinda like people who can't tell even a low bitrate mp3 sounds horrible (let alone high bitrate) or... well, Bose.

What sells in a showroom is high frequency impact and for some, ~50Hz bloat. That's pretty easy to put together in a system. Good luck listening to it without being worn out for any length of time, though.

/mildrant

it was still a 'scam' as the speakers weren't what he said they were, but yes, it did turn out to be a good deal after all. he made money on the speakers and we got our use out of them.

I don't see what all the fuss is about. My RoleK is sweet!

yup - the scam is that the speakers are being advertised for something that they're not (high quality speakers). even they're sold to someone who can't really tell the difference. kind of like selling a fake diamond to someone as the real thing, even if they're happy with how it sparkles.

Man these guys are everywhere! I've ran into them like 3-4 times. Always wanting to sell me a 4k projector or whatever.

The one guy came up with a story that they invoiced his bosses company for 4 stereos systems but there was an extra one that wasn't on the invoice and he was trying to get rid of it quick. Conveniently, he was sitting outside the regular ATM I always go to. Truth was, I already have a 5.1 Dolby surround system and no interested in any electronic stuff. He kept pushing so I told him I'd give him $20 LOL and he fucked off.

My cousin recently bought a projector off one of these white van scams. He didn't know. We tested it out. It's okay I guess. Nowhere near 4k!!! It's like barely 720p LOL. He only paid like $120 for it so whatever...

So best case scenario you're committing a felony and buying stolen merchandise? Worst case they're not actually stolen but your intent was still there and you get shit generic speakers? Sign me up...

sometimes it's the middle case where you get what you pay for. crap speakers for a crap price. if you're in the market for shit generic speakers, there ya go.

No, because if it was, the scammer would apologize as he took the money.

Why do they always seem to be driving white vans?

Rentals? also very generic, and work vans are usually white, so it adds to the story.

You almost got Buffalobilled! They were going to make a skin suit out of you.

Psst. You guys need some speakers?

https://youtu.be/yykbK-GjEKE?t=19s

I brought a set speaker off a white van before, same excuse like other white van. The seller claim it used same driver as Bose. I forgot what was the brand (unheard of) but the quality looks good for $150. I made sure it is exactly the same item they show me and went home tested it, it sounds really nice. Show it to my roommate and my friend, they were really impressed how clear and nice it sounds. They went out to hunt down the mini van and brought 2 set of same speakers.

If you were in Chicago I'd offer disabuse you of that false notion. On the other hand, enjoy?

My other big hobby is designing speakers.... I might be both picky and spoiled...

Are you on the AVSforum/DIY section or any of the other DIY speaker forums?

People who have never been exposed to great sound are happy with what they have because they don't know any better. Once they hear music they like in a well designed room with quality speakers, a whole new world opens up for them to spend money on. :D

AVSforum is... well. No. I've tried to help out there but it seems a few too many audiophools... though not all. I have an account there and a handful of other sites, but now mostly publish my stuff on a site I set up for that purpose (all free for anyone to build for themselves or a friend.) Forums got too tough to follow, or have multiple posts on the same design. I've done some of the gatherings when I can, mostly Chicago but also InDIYana and the one in Iowa. Don't really want to go into it more, but if you're curious about more specifics feel free to PM me.

C

I'm on and off with AVS. There's a lot of good information there, but you have to dig through people asking the same questions every day and others insisting their cables are better. I don't have the tools, room, or knowledge to design my own speakers, so I'm happy to use others' proven designs.

LOL! Sounds just like the forum at Head-Fi these days. The fight about silver vs copper cables as stiff as a coat hanger is a daily occurance and I no longer bother reading there. If I give a bad opinion on a headphone I listened to at a store, people would bombard me with a dozen PMs trying to tell me I'm wrong because what they bought is the best!

The white van speaker is one end of the spectrum, while on the other end of the spectrum I think there is also too much snake oil being sold to the wealthy folks these days.

BTW the same white van speaker scam exists but in the form of an SUV with an Italian dude claiming he needs to sell off some Armani sample products as he is going to miss his flight and wants to avoid paying taxes. It's really hilarious.

I prefer mil-spec silver plated high purity copper that's PTFE insulated... it's awesome to work with, strips easily, bends easily but holds some shape, solders like a dream... I use almost nothing else for internal wiring any more. On surplus the price is good too. Oh yeah - the sound. Nothing to complain about there either.

C

Interesting. I purchased a set of Sony headphones last year that came with silver plated copper cables. The sound was quite fatiguing no matter what the format was (PCM, DSD64, Hi-Res flac, etc) or how I adjusted the source, felt a bit like listening to low bit rate mp3s. I ended up swapping the cables for the factory copper only offerings and it totally solved the issue for me.

Audio can get kind of subjective I guess.

@MisterSheep is that you in the white van?

did @go_a_way1 put you up to this?

OK so they are doing a sales pitch, but that doesn't make it a scam.

People sell fairly large size home build type speakers out of a van. They embellish the sale with a story. The product is right there for you so touch, feel, etc.

A scam is when the no product is received or you receive one not as originally shown. When it's in front of your face you can examine the product, maybe even test it. If the buyer takes the guys word for it regarding the quality etc that's their choice.

i had a dude try to sell me discounted meat from his van when i was pumping gas once...chicken, ribs, steak, etc..even said it was gluten free haha

Every sales pitch these guys make begins with "my boss put in _____ extra pieces in my van and he didn't know, I need to get rid of them." What kind of intro is that? Besides, the guy got my attention by telling me he's selling a Bose system when in fact it isn't a Bose. If that's not a scam then I don't know what is.

Woa this still happens?! And it happened in the 80's?! amazing. @OP I was approached in a parking same area near Heartland by two guys in a white van about 15 years ago in my 98 civic si. When I asked to prove they weren't a scam he showed me a large Ziploc full of weed lol and said he had nothing to lie about.

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