Luke Himself

The White Van Scam

September 9th, 2008 | Published under My Stuff | 7 Comments

The white van scam is a scam I’ve heard about recently and been approached on two occasions. I thought it would be a good idea to make my readers and search engine traffic aware of what it’s all about.

Basically the white van scam goes like this: usually at a petrol station or carpark (mine happened both times at a petrol station in Keysborough and Dandenong) a couple of guys approach you in a white van and ask some kind of question to do with buying speakers to get your curiosity:

“You want to buy some cheap speakers?”
or “You don’t happen to be into home theatre at all?”

If you say yes, they go on to tell you about the overstock pair of speakers part of a delivery job from their boss. Because they’ve accidently been given one extra set, they want to get rid of it and quick; they offer you these speakers (according to them worth in excess of $1000) for anywhere from $50 to $1000.

The unaware thinks great, highly expensive speakers at a cheap as chips price and purchases them on the spot. Don’t count on a receipt or  warranty coming your way. Apparently the scammers are equipped with legitimate looking business cards, delivery books and hi-fi brochures if you give any doubt.

So what’s the scam? The speakers aren’t worth in excess of $1000. In fact they’re not even worth the $50 to $1000 the victim pays for them. They are low quality, imitation brands being sold for well above their retail price.

In some cases these “delivery drivers” (or more appropriately scammers) are known to become aggressive or apply pressure to buy the speakers, and even ask for extra beer money for providing such a good deal.

Scam Shield (www.scamshield.com) reports:

“An actual case reported on April 2001 by one of Scam Shield’s own staff members was investigated. The speakers sold to him by the questionable salespersons listed a phone number to JAM Entertainment. A call to John Mehaffey of JAM Entertainment led the staff member to Mike Amoroso of the manufacturer Audio Wood Products (also known as Audiofile) in Chino Hills, California, which ships the product to regional/local distributors who have independent contractors (van drivers) who sell the speakers. Mr. Amoroso of Audi Wood Products referred our staff member to Orka Distributors/O-Town Sound in Longwood, FL. The manager of Orka Distributors denied any responsibility for the salespersons who sold his speakers.”

On my first occasion of being approached by them they kept on trying to tell me about and show me the speakers. When I told them I wasn’t interested they eventually found someone else to pester. I wasn’t aware it was a scam on this occasion (just thought it seemed a bit too dodgy).

The second occasion they approached me asking if I was “into hi-fi gear”. Funnily enough, they were driving a blue van this time. I started laughing and told them I’d heard it all before. He started shouting at me quite harshly, “What’ve you heard? What’ve you heard?”. I simply read his rego out loud remembering it which got him nervous enough to drive off quickly.

So a heads-up to anyone approached by these people – just keep walking.
If you want good speakers at a good price, visit your local JB Hi-Fi or audio store.