White van speaker scam

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The white van speaker scam is a

con artist makes a buyer believe they are getting a good price on home entertainment products. Often a con artist will buy inexpensive, generic speakers[1]
and convince potential buyers that they are premium products worth hundreds or thousands of dollars, offering them for sale at a price that the buyer thinks is heavily discounted, but is actually a heavy markup from their real value. Con artists in this type of scam call themselves "speakerguys" or "speakermen", and usually claim to be working for a speaker delivery or installation company.

The speaker scam was common in the 1980s. Despite widespread information about the scam on consumer forums and watchdog sites, the scams continue operating across several continents.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Process

The typical white van speaker scam involves one to three individuals, who are usually casually dressed or wearing

disposable income
. The marks may also be foreigners or people who are unfamiliar with typical business transactions in Western countries.

The operators often claim that they work for an audio retailer or audio installer and that, through some sort of corporate error (

advertisement. Speakers are often given a fictional brand name,[1]
sometimes intentionally similar to a well-regarded speaker manufacturer in order to mislead the buyer. Some of these fictional brands have reputable-looking websites which list customer service telephone numbers and support e-mail addresses, but these methods of contact are often dead ends.

If the mark declines the offer, the scammer uses various high-pressure negotiation sales tactics. Among these techniques are producing glossy material that details the quality and high retail value of the speakers, and bombarding the potential customer with technical jargon, whether correctly or incorrectly used. If still unable to convince the mark that he or she would be turning down an incredible offer, the con artist will almost always lower the price significantly.

Overall, the quality of the product is inferior. White van speakers are often partially filled with concrete or rocks to increase their weight and create the illusion of high quality. Another common characteristic of white van speakers is an unusually high wattage rating for their size, for example 1000 watts for a 3-inch speaker, which in reality may be rated as low as five watts. In some cases when a buyer tries to hook up the home theatre system to a high-definition television set, they find that it cannot be done, and the claim of HD compatibility made for the white van system is just another element of the scam. Systems (typically amplifiers with speakers, sold as sets) with only two or three inputs and a lack of video inputs, with only analogue L/R/6ch RCA jacks, are common in this scheme.

References

  1. ^ a b "Buyer falls victim to speaker scam". The Windsor Star. 2008-01-30. Retrieved 2013-02-06.
  2. ^ "The Long History of the White Van Speaker Scam - Digital Trends". Digital Trends. 30 August 2015.
  3. ^ "Victims still fall for white van speaker scam". smh.com.au.
  4. ^ JAMIE SMALL (23 January 2015). "White van speaker scam". Stuff.
  5. ^ "EEVblog Tears into the White Van Speaker Scam". Hackaday. 8 October 2014.
  6. ^ "Inside a white van speaker scam: Don't buy a 'rolkolsen'". metronews.ca. 13 February 2013.
  7. ^ Gary Harper (11 May 2015). "'Speaker Scam' thrives in the Valley". cleveland19.com.

External links

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