"White Van Speaker Scam" - Toyota GR86, 86, FR-S and Subaru BRZ Forum & Owners Community

itsAlex · 06-01-2016, 09:18 PM

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 So I pulled up next to him and I asked him to show me the speakers, instead he pulls out some outdated Best Buy flyer and he points to this sound system with the model number 'N70', it didn't even say Bose, it had some other brand on it that I'd never heard of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".

Thorpedo · 06-01-2016, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by itsAlex

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 So I pulled up next to him and I asked him to show me the speakers, instead he pulls out some outdated Best Buy flyer and he points to this sound system with the model number 'N70', it didn't even say Bose, it had some other brand on it that I'd never heard of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.

humfrz · 06-02-2016, 01:12 AM

Is this a Canadian thing .. ??

humfrz

Kaotic Lazagna · 06-02-2016, 01:56 AM

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

swarb · 06-02-2016, 02:03 AM

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.

krayzie · 06-02-2016, 09:15 AM

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

Best Offered Somewhere Else.

themadscientist · 06-02-2016, 09:29 AM

shiumai · 06-02-2016, 04:11 PM

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.

wbradley · 06-02-2016, 04:33 PM

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.

fumanchu1 · 06-02-2016, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by humfrz

Is this a Canadian thing .. ??

humfrz

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)

OldSkoolToys · 06-02-2016, 06:10 PM

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.

cjd · 06-02-2016, 09:01 PM

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...

ZionsWrath · 06-02-2016, 09:11 PM

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?

geezerbrzeezer · 06-02-2016, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shiumai

My stepdad and i got scammed by this exact same thing 30 years ago

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.

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

Kinda sounds like not a bad deal.

06-02-2016, 04:11 PM	#8
shiumai Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Drives: 2013 DGM BRZ, 2020 C8 Corvette Location: USofA! Posts: 1,760 Thanks: 963 Thanked 1,893 Times in 787 Posts Mentioned: 41 Post(s) Tagged: 1 Thread(s)	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. __________________ My DGM BRZ vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OL9OhxexAA My car journal thread: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43402

06-02-2016, 09:11 PM	#13
ZionsWrath Thanks Join Date: Apr 2013 Drives: BRZ Location: NY Posts: 4,163 Thanks: 5,989 Thanked 3,100 Times in 1,498 Posts Mentioned: 38 Post(s) Tagged: 3 Thread(s)	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? __________________

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06-02-2016, 01:12 AM	#3
humfrz Senior Member Join Date: May 2013 Drives: 2013 FR-S, white, MT Location: Puyallup, WA Posts: 30,409 Thanks: 29,793 Thanked 32,808 Times in 16,829 Posts Mentioned: 715 Post(s) Tagged: 2 Thread(s)	Is this a Canadian thing .. ?? humfrz

06-02-2016, 01:56 AM	#4
Kaotic Lazagna Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2014 Drives: GR Corolla Location: Lathrop, CA Posts: 4,943 Thanks: 3,096 Thanked 3,028 Times in 1,865 Posts Mentioned: 40 Post(s) Tagged: 2 Thread(s)	First time I've heard of that before. Nonetheless, I ignore people who say suspicious things, and wave them off.

06-02-2016, 02:03 AM	#5
swarb Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Drives: BRZ Location: Los Angeles Posts: 3,052 Thanks: 1,773 Thanked 2,451 Times in 1,271 Posts Mentioned: 79 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	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.

06-02-2016, 09:15 AM	#6
krayzie Drive From Home Join Date: Dec 2013 Drives: BRZ STI Performance Location: Filth City Posts: 4,912 Thanks: 2,368 Thanked 3,111 Times in 2,007 Posts Mentioned: 30 Post(s) Tagged: 1 Thread(s)	Even if they are legit you will be so pissed you'll want your money back. Best Offered Somewhere Else.

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