28 August 2008

Don't buy your speakers off the street - Simon warns

| johnboy
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[First filed: July 31, 2008 @ 10:04]

Simon Corbell is warning Canberrans to avoid high pressure speaker salesmen operating from the back of a white van:

    ‘”The scammers typically approach people at places like bus stops, at traffic lights or in car parks, and use high pressure and aggressive sales tactics, including accompanying the victim to an ATM to make a cash withdrawal,” Mr Corbell said.

    “Victims are led to believe the speakers are of very high quality and a well-respected brand and that they are getting a bargain…

    I urge anyone who is approached by these scammers to contact the Office of Regulatory Services on 6207 3000 with any details they can provide in relation to these illegal operators”‘

And don’t forget to put on a warm jumper too.

UPDATED: Affirmative Action Man has sent in the following this morning:

    I was getting petrol in Phillip this morning & was approached by the driver of a white van offering me bargain stereo system. He had an invoice and explained it was a cancelled order & the boss had told him to offload it at cost. Said it was worth thousands & I could have it for $600 cash.

    He was driving a VW transporter rego no NSW WIA 151.

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54-11 said :

DLWM, that was me. I had just been accosted by these blokes and declined their obviously generous offer. Just then a couple of boys in blue hove into sight, and suggested they may wish to have a bit of a look at these characters. They took the rego number (which was WIA 151 noted in an early post). What happened after that I don’t know. It sounds like it is just cheap gear being sold off, rather than anything hot, but I think plod needs to check it out.

Ah ha, I kind of wondered what all the fuss was about.

I thought it might have had something to do with one of the bus stop deadbeats who was obviously intoxicated by…(insert name of substance here)… who was ranting and raving, and not really being restrained by her fella.

smokey4 said :

Mst be bad in Brumbyland cause these guys used to operate in Melbourne. I was approached at least twice in the burbs in Melbourne with the offer of a cheap surround sound system by them a couple of years ago. They normally work blue collar areas on a Thursday or Friday. A very quick operation. Good to see they are ripping the good people of Canberra off as well.

This sort of thing is old news. The archtypical bloke selling speakers from the back of a white van has an English accent. It’s probably a Polish one now (if you know stereotypes of England and the EU you’ll get this sentance).

This sort of thing has been going on for 25 years that I know about.

Move over Simon; next.

The latest instantiation of this franchise is doing the rounds again – they were spruiking out at the servo on the Federal Highway this morning.

Got this email today


Subject: White Van scam.

Klaus acoustic speakers.. Not worth anything.

Rec retail of $6000 offering them for 1200..

Around town today….beware.

So looks like these guys are back again.

Mike Bessenger8:01 pm 02 Jul 09

I got approached by a toyota hiace with qld plates at the top story of belconnen mall. Same storey it was a double order and boss said to get rid of it.
I called the police and tried to report it, but the officer refused to take details “as these people have a permit and are only doing their jobs”.
The only reason I reported it was because I read a story on a forum where someone had actually bought some speakers off them only to find when they got home there was no speaker in the housing, just a couple of house bricks.

On the radio this afternoon, watch out for two dodgy blokes selling A/V out of a white VW van (with ACT plates?)… in Subiaco WA. Greener pastures perhaps?

These dudes were doing the rounds of industrial sites in Hume this afternoon. Didn’t appear to be making a fortune – the patter was pretty base.

DLWM, that was me. I had just been accosted by these blokes and declined their obviously generous offer. Just then a couple of boys in blue hove into sight, and suggested they may wish to have a bit of a look at these characters. They took the rego number (which was WIA 151 noted in an early post). What happened after that I don’t know. It sounds like it is just cheap gear being sold off, rather than anything hot, but I think plod needs to check it out.

I would have thought reporting it to the police would have been more helpful than telling us. If you’re stupid enough to fall for such a scam, you deserve to lose your money. It’s the same with the nigerian letter scams, and the long lost inheritance send your bank account details scam.

I really don’t see why these warnings have to be plastered to every single lightpost on Lonsdale and Mort St’s.

If you are stupid enough to buy out of the back of a van on the street then you deserve what you get.

Ebay? Trading Post?

No, old fashioned idiots praying on less intelligent idiots.

The world seems like a better place when you realise the majority of people are stupid.

This has been getting about for years and years! I assume its different groups using the same line. Go back 6 years and I actually purchased some of their kit from outside a uni in Melbourne. Obviously I know nothing about HiFi gear and was pretty chuffed with my purchase and was pretty sure I got a bargin *rolls eyes*. About 18 months later at a servo I was approached by the same guy in the same van with the same line, it all came crashing down and I realised what had happened. In full view of anyone at the servo and their cameras I beat 6 shades of s__t out of this guy and dragged him to the local police station. The kind police woman was happy to hear my whole story and let me on my way happy of overlook the obvious injuries this shyster had incurred.

It’s probably not illegal, per se, as the gear works, apparenlty, but it’s Tandy-quality stuff being sold at high prices. This scam has been going for years all over Australia. Probably the only crime being committed (other than tricking the silly) is that they don’t have hawkers licences.

Clown Killer2:01 pm 28 Aug 08

These lads get around, or maybe they’re franchising the operation – coming soon: Bob’s Dodgy Hi=Fi Gear Out of a Van!

I was approached by two guys in the main street of Eden about four months ago with the sam MO: Warehose accidently gave us too many units, boss says get rid of them because if we take them back there’ll be big trouble, brochures showing pictures and prices etc. The two guys looked like they were off the set of Fat Pizza.

I called the cops.

DarkLadyWolfMother1:55 pm 28 Aug 08

Curiously I was waiting outside Oporto (Corinna end of Woden Plaza) today when two cops emerged from the Plaza. A guy in motorcycle leathers told them that someone was “hawking Surround systems” from the back of a white Van nearby. Unfortunately the police wandered out of my field of view, but maybe they got lucky and caught them?

This happened to me at a servo in Brisbane about 6 months ago. Bit of a give away when they are stil insistent after you’ve already told them to stick it up their jumper…

I always thought that this scam wasn’t selling stolen goods, but cheap eBay quality junk selling for 10x what it’s actually worth, but being talked up as a bargain with fake magazine articles saying how the stuff is worth thousands of dollars as high end audiophile equipment.

Oh how stupid would you have to be to let some guys convince you to buy a pair of Bang and Olufsens or whatever out of their truck? AND how stupid would you have to be to not see how suss they are, and let them follow you to the ATM where they can get your PIN.

Julius Constantius5:07 pm 31 Jul 08

Wow, I’m sure you don’t have to tell a monkey that is a poor way to purchase goods.

They hit me up about 2 years ago, a couple of days before Christmas, at corner of Barry Drive and Northbourne.

At that time the van had Qld rego plates.

I got the spiel about a home threatre job falling through, and needed to get rid of them.

It wasn’t until a couple of hours later that I actually clicked they might have been stolen goods. Was having a blonde day.

Those guys have been around Canberra for a while now. I was approached by them outside Westfield Woden one lunchtime about 18 months ago. Apparently they had some gear left over from a home theatre installation job and the boss told them to get rid of it. I declined their generous offer and have been kicking myself ever since for missing out on what was no doubt quality gear at a bargin price.

Perhaps in his capacity as a local memmber. Not everything is a conspiracy.

Jonathon Reynolds10:44 am 31 Jul 08

Did anyone else notice on WIN News last night that it was Simon (Attorney General) and not Katy (Health Minister) that opened the new medical practice at Ainslie?

Not only that he was doing a reasonable job “spruiking” health issues… very strange given that he hasn’t held the health portfolio for a while. I would think that encroaching on to Katy’s territory is likely to cause a huge demarcation dispute next time the party room caucus meets.

Mst be bad in Brumbyland cause these guys used to operate in Melbourne. I was approached at least twice in the burbs in Melbourne with the offer of a cheap surround sound system by them a couple of years ago. They normally work blue collar areas on a Thursday or Friday. A very quick operation. Good to see they are ripping the good people of Canberra off as well.

What would we do without politicians. God they are helpful.

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