White van speaker scam

Thewhite van speaker scamis ascamsales technique in which acon artistmakes a buyer believe they are getting a good price on home entertainment products. Often a con artist will buy inexpensive,genericspeakersand 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 andwatchdogsites, the scams continue operating across several continents.

Process

The typical white van speaker scam involves one to three individuals, who are usually casually dressed or wearinguniforms.They drive anSUV,minivan or acommercial vehicle(usually a white commercial van, which may be rented inexpensively) that often displays a companylogo.To find suitable targets, the van operators set up their con in moderately trafficked areas, such asparking lots,gas stations,colleges,or largeapartment complexes.Alternatively, they may target people driving expensive cars and wave them down. Themarks(victims) are usually affluent, young people, college students, or others thought to have large amounts ofdisposable 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 (warehouseoperator mistake,bookkeepingmistakes,computer glitch,etc.) or due to the client changing the order after supplies were purchased, they have extraspeakers.Sometimes, it is implied that the merchandise may be stolen. For varying reasons they need to dispose of the speakers quickly and are willing to get rid of them at "well below retail"prices.The con artists will repeatedly state the speaker's "value" as anywhere between the equivalent of $1800 and $3500, prices often purportedly verified by showing awebsite,brochureor a magazineadvertisement.Speakers are often given a fictional brand name,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-pressurenegotiationsales 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 technicaljargon,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 ahigh-definition televisionset, 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.

External links

• EEV Blog #671 - White Van Speaker Scam Teardown,YouTube, 2014-10-07,archivedfrom the original on 2021-12-21,examination of a typical speaker system sold by white van scammers
• "Suckers",an episode ofThis American Lifewhich includes a segment on white van speakers
• Scamshield archive of white van speaker brands and locations
• Crimes-of-Persuasion on speaker scams