Tweet
I was sitting in the parking lot of the local strip mall last night waiting for the wife. It was a nice evening, so I had the convertible top of her car down. A unmarked (but quite new-looking) white van pulls up and asks "Do you wanna buy a Home Theater System? They loaded an extra one on the truck."
I was not born yesterday and I've heard of this scam before. For those that don't know, the "speaker van" scam involves a stranger (always in an unmarked white van) selling you some bit of audio gear of a brand you have never heard of. They assure you this is a "high-end, audiophile-quality" system (too high-end for you to have ever heard of it.) It "sells for" $[insert crazy amount, like 3k here] but they are willing to part with it for, say, $400 in cash. This will be backed up with a flier listing how nifty it is that they just happen to be carrying around with them. (Oddly enough, in some variations they laminate it to save on printing costs... why would an installer carry around a laminated brochure?)
The reason they claim to be doing so is because "the warehouse loaded an extra one on the truck and won't notice when it doesn't come back." (That warehouse manager isn't going to be working long when he routinely loses track of $3k stereo systems...)
Naturally, this "audiophile-quality" system is in fact some random off-brand crap of the sort you could get at CheapoMart for $100 or so if it had an RCA or Westinghouse logo on it instead.
They only take cash, and when you get home and discover that it actually sounds like crap (or doesn't work at all) you realize that the van was unmarked, and furthermore, you won't call the cops because that would involve admitting you just tried to purchase stolen property. Even if you call the cops, they do nothing because protecting consumers who purchase allegedly stolen property are about at the same priority as an addict complaining he got sold fake crack.
Word gets around, and they move onto the next town soon after.
Anyway, I tell the guy no, and then he does the same trick with the poor guy coming out of his car next to me. I shout out to him that it's a scam. I get a dirty look from the guy in the van, who looks about to say something. I shout out again that its a scam and tell the driver to get outta here before I call the cops. (I worry not for my safety as this is broad daylight in a crowded shopping center...) He drives off, I guess to hit some other shopping center.
The guy I warned thanks me, as he was sick and not really thinking clearly. I have the feeling he was about to start chatting with these fine entrepreneurs about this fine offer...
SirWired
I was not born yesterday and I've heard of this scam before. For those that don't know, the "speaker van" scam involves a stranger (always in an unmarked white van) selling you some bit of audio gear of a brand you have never heard of. They assure you this is a "high-end, audiophile-quality" system (too high-end for you to have ever heard of it.) It "sells for" $[insert crazy amount, like 3k here] but they are willing to part with it for, say, $400 in cash. This will be backed up with a flier listing how nifty it is that they just happen to be carrying around with them. (Oddly enough, in some variations they laminate it to save on printing costs... why would an installer carry around a laminated brochure?)
The reason they claim to be doing so is because "the warehouse loaded an extra one on the truck and won't notice when it doesn't come back." (That warehouse manager isn't going to be working long when he routinely loses track of $3k stereo systems...)
Naturally, this "audiophile-quality" system is in fact some random off-brand crap of the sort you could get at CheapoMart for $100 or so if it had an RCA or Westinghouse logo on it instead.
They only take cash, and when you get home and discover that it actually sounds like crap (or doesn't work at all) you realize that the van was unmarked, and furthermore, you won't call the cops because that would involve admitting you just tried to purchase stolen property. Even if you call the cops, they do nothing because protecting consumers who purchase allegedly stolen property are about at the same priority as an addict complaining he got sold fake crack.
Word gets around, and they move onto the next town soon after.
Anyway, I tell the guy no, and then he does the same trick with the poor guy coming out of his car next to me. I shout out to him that it's a scam. I get a dirty look from the guy in the van, who looks about to say something. I shout out again that its a scam and tell the driver to get outta here before I call the cops. (I worry not for my safety as this is broad daylight in a crowded shopping center...) He drives off, I guess to hit some other shopping center.
The guy I warned thanks me, as he was sick and not really thinking clearly. I have the feeling he was about to start chatting with these fine entrepreneurs about this fine offer...
SirWired
Comment