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PSA: Don't buy speakers out of a White Van / other vehicle

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It's not this scam in particular, but I was once ripped off with this sort of road-side sale. Some shady looking dude pulled up in a van while I was parking, offering me an iPad, and two iPhones for 500€. He showed them to me, they were the real deal, papers and all. I was like "I don't have the money", cause I was just making excuses to get out of there. The dude dropped down the price to 60€, which was what I told him I had on me. I knew it was something wrong, but he was in such a hurry to get the money, I figured he must have stolen the goods or something or whatever. Heat of the moment, I gave him the 60€, he gave me the case where he had stored the iPad and iPhones. I went inside, open the case and it was fully of paper and whatnot, just junk. He had been inside the van the entire time, and simply swapped the case for another one that looked exactly the same, and I was out 60€.

I say I got off cheap and am not falling for this kind of stuff again.

In hindsight, it's pretty easy to spot them. I'm sure I'll be much better at noticing where I'm being scammed, when this sort of stuff happens again. If it ever does.
 
I just glanced at AV/HT and read this thread as "Don't buy jello out of a white van/other vehicle" :awe:
 
iRONic said:
Aight... my buddy from Tenn. just called me up to tell me about a "hella deal" he got outside the UPS store in Chatanooga. Yup, a dude in a white van full of "kickass speakers" offered him this for $800. Bill[my buddy] said he wasn't really looking for any speakers but he saw this "HT setup." The scumbag in the van offered it to him for $325 and Bill bought it. Bah!

I brought him to this thread and he read all of YoYo's links. He's not thrilled with himself for falling for the scam. He did get the van's lisence plate number though, a Georgia tag, AGK-7515.

Anybody think he has any chance or way to get his cash back?
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Okay...so, being a retired music teacher, and somewhat knowledgeable about sound systems (or at least how to hook them up in an RV and at home), we just got taken (in Chattanooga, in front of Harbor Freight) by this same guy! He's very convincing and doesn't appear to be a "shady" sort at all. Beware...it IS still happening. This wasn't a "van" however, but a fairly nice looking white SUV.

That being said, we haven't taken them out of the box, at least not completely. But, from what I understand, they can still be used with an existing receiver (read this on another thread about the R232) but I guess I need to take everything out to see if there are any cables. Supposedly the R-11 is wireless...but...sure looks like there are black and red speaker connectors on the small twin units. We're sick...completely...and trying to decide whether to sell on Ebay (I have 100% feedback...so need to get all of the scoop so I don't mess up my rating) or try to use them. Thanks for the info on the tag. I DIDN'T get the tag, but recall it WAS a Georgia tag and those numbers look familiar. Thanks!
 
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My fiancee just found a brand new unopened set of Wahldorf WD-305HT's in the parking lot last night.

White Van -1 | Team Ålkemyst +1
 
Morbus said:
It's not this scam in particular, but I was once ripped off with this sort of road-side sale. Some shady looking dude pulled up in a van while I was parking, offering me an iPad, and two iPhones for 500€. He showed them to me, they were the real deal, papers and all. I was like "I don't have the money", cause I was just making excuses to get out of there. The dude dropped down the price to 60€, which was what I told him I had on me. I knew it was something wrong, but he was in such a hurry to get the money, I figured he must have stolen the goods or something or whatever. Heat of the moment, I gave him the 60€, he gave me the case where he had stored the iPad and iPhones. I went inside, open the case and it was fully of paper and whatnot, just junk. He had been inside the van the entire time, and simply swapped the case for another one that looked exactly the same, and I was out 60€.

I say I got off cheap and am not falling for this kind of stuff again.

In hindsight, it's pretty easy to spot them. I'm sure I'll be much better at noticing where I'm being scammed, when this sort of stuff happens again. If it ever does.
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If you were willing to buy stolen goods then you pretty much deserved that.
 
Dave from EEVBlog did a teardown of "white van" gear he found in a dumpster. Long vid but a detailed look at just how dodgy these things are inside.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3B_KKyntQE

The scam is actually in a nice legal grey area in a lot of countries. The products are built so they actually do function. They just use the dodgiest, cheapest parts available. Just enough to get it working, but it will perform nowhere near what they claim. Sure, you could book them on false advertising, if you can catch them. Easier said than done. It's your word against theirs since it's all cash transactions. Otherwise, the only way they get busted is for 1) selling goods that don't pass safety standards, or 2) they get caught making counterfeit goods.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
 
Oh my god I knew I seen this somewhere...I live in Washington state and I took my boys to lunch today at Mc'ds. Some guy was trying to peddle four sets of these WahlDorf speakers that "the place that bought them thought they needed 5 sets but after installation, they didn't need the rest" so he was making a deal to sell the rest for $200 a set. WOW these things get around
 
This is a VERY OLD scam. My uncle was approached with this scam in the 1990s. About 10 years ago, my friend actually fell prey to it. He called me all excited and said "You won't believe the deal I just got on speakers" and I asked him if he'd bought them out of a van and he said yes and I knew what had happened.
 
Matt1970 said:
If you were willing to buy stolen goods then you pretty much deserved that.
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I remember a few years back I was trying to buy a thinkpad off craigslist, it was for a very good price and ended up meeting with a shady russian guy driving a BMW at a gas station. Thing had a bootleg copy of windows on it and some of the parts didnt match up with what was stock for that laptop. Had to bail on that one, definitely stolen.
 
This is nothing new. My buddy fell for this in the late 80's. White van. Check. Car wash. Check. Crap speakers. Check.
 
i DID MANAGE TO BUY UP SOME BLACK kARAOKE SPEAKERS IN THIS FASHION A YEAR OR TWO BACK , I PAID 25 POUNDS , AND THEY SEEM TO WORK ALRIGHT IN MY HOME STUDIO AS A PLAYBACK SOURCE.
#iT MIGHT BE JUST THE LUCK OF THE DRAW!
i DON,T THINK I WOULD HANG ABOUT IN ANY ALLEYWAYS LOOKING OUT FOR CHEAP , HIGH GRADE SPEAKERS...:\:\

Please post without the fancy fonts.
administrator allisolm
 
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lol i walked out of the gym today and someone in a fucking white van yelled out to me as i'm walking to my car "hey you want to buy some home theater speakers?". i literally did a double take because i thought this was not even a thing anymore.

i then said "what was that?" cause i wasn't sure if i heard right, and he repeated it. i was like "no dude i'm good i already have a home theater system that is way better than the crap you are trying to sell" and he just said ok and drove around the parking lot and stopped at another car like 30 feet infront of where he asked me.
 
In response to the comment asking to remove this from the stickys I disagree, keep it up as there are a LOT of people out there who, unlike myself or I'd assume many of the long time members here (I'm brand new here, but not new to audio gear!) a lot of people who have no clue about the "white van speaker scam" and who are easily duped by the fancy LOOKING speakers, the similar names (I'd call my phony brand Klitsch!) and all of that PLUS this is getting a new lease on life on the net, besides occasionally seeing them on craigslist, there's a newer site that I won't name and not the one that came out years ago copying craigslist that apparently only lives on as "hooker central", not that one but one with much more picture content and that touts it being something like "a safer way" to buy/sell (so obviously they're trying to say "safer than craigslist" without actually saying that) but I sure as hell can't figure out how its safer and guess what, its been LOADED with the white van brands in the audio section at times, one Klitsch after another KMF or whatever and I've got to say to the unknowing buyer I'm sure it looks like a great speaker setup and boom! You got got!!

Two final comments:

-It looks like they're going for the "home theater speaker package" buyer these days, where years ago (I'm in early 40s, so like in the 80s or 90s) they'd usually always be selling a BIG pair of "bumpin speakers" and would often say things like "if you live in an apartment, you gotta be careful with these crazy speakers cuz they're loud as hell and wait till you feel that bumpin!!!" and you'd get some giant cabinet made of lower than low grade particle board with probably the crappiest 15 inch woofer ever made, a 1 dollar mid and a 1 dollar tweeter and instead of "feelin the bump" you got a giant fart noise machine! Now, I see one "7.1" after another, but no more giant bump machines.

-Lastly, as far as anyone talking about getting their money back due to "fraud", with the exception of something like the ebay auction mentioned where images from a real speaker brand were ripped off and used for these crap speakers, people have to take some personal responsibility here (and in many other things too, seems like we always need to seek help now to fix what are really our own dumb mistakes in all parts of life) if they're selling you a Klitsch setup and they say KLITSCH and not KLIPSCH and you give in to it and buy that junk without doing any homework because some fast talking slimeball has it down how to sell people junk for good money, that's your own fault, own up to it! I say that from personal experience having been an "underachiever" in many areas and I ALWAYS had someone else to blame, it was NEVER my fault. Well, my whole life took a good turn for the better when I finally one day began to own up to my own errors and not look to blame someone or seek redress from whoever to make up for my own sloppy mistakes. Its buyer beware out there and I couldn't live with myself selling people junk for good money but some people are just fine with it, so gotta CYA 24/7!!!
 
I can't believe the white vans selling speakers is still going on haha wow times have changed but
this scam hasn't! First time i saw this was in 1989 I guess I'm getting old.... I was already into audio
and a van pulled up and offered a pair to me in a nice box with a photo I could tell they were pretty cheaply made and passed on there "deal" for 500 bucks....
 
I got hit up by a guy cruising the parking lot of Home Depot in a white van. This was back in 2003, I'd say. Cincinnati, OH.

He asked if I wanted a set of speakers. I said "no." He asked, "Why not? blah blah" I simply told him I wasn't "in the market for home theater speakers." Though the overriding reason was the trust factor. Hitting up strangers in the parking lot to sell goods from your van just screams "shady" if not "stolen property." Apparently they're to dense to grasp this.

I didn't discover this was an iconic scam 'til a couple years later.
 
Ironically, Amazon is now using its own shipping service... which delivers speakers out of a white unmarked van.
 
mistersprinkles said:
This is a VERY OLD scam. My uncle was approached with this scam in the 1990s. About 10 years ago, my friend actually fell prey to it. He called me all excited and said "You won't believe the deal I just got on speakers" and I asked him if he'd bought them out of a van and he said yes and I knew what had happened.
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Yeah I heard about this scam from around that era. I can't believe people still fall for it. I guess it capitalizes on some fundamental characteristic of human nature.
 
Two bro-dudes tried to sell me a speaker from their car at a 7 eleven the other night, watch out guys their tactics are evolving !
 
Annisman* said:
Two bro-dudes tried to sell me a speaker from their car at a 7 eleven the other night, watch out guys their tactics are evolving !
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Yeah, my friend ran into some at a stoplight recently. Tried to convince her husband to buy some speakers out of the back. How's the warranty on those puppies? lol.

I don't really understand the business motivation behind it. Do you just drive around in a van all day burning up gas & hoping for a bite? I mean, minimum wage is at least $7.25 in every state these days...40 hours a week at any fast-food place seems like it'd pull in a more consistent paycheck, plus benefits & other perks (like free food), versus sitting around trying to scam people here & there.
 
FeuerFrei said:
Hitting up strangers in the parking lot to sell goods from your van just screams "shady" if not "stolen property."
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I believe that is 100% their intention. They want you to think they stole some 'good quality' speakers and that they want to sell you 'good quality' speakers for 'a good deal.'

In reality they are selling 'garbage' for a 'rip off'.
 
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