"Want to buy some speakers?" guys and their white van, c. 2000-2005.

Submitted by Rosseaux t3_ye1d2q in philadelphia

Does anybody remember the speaker guys who drove around Center City trying to sell speakers out of a white van? You'd be walking down the sidewalk and a white panel van would drive slowly next to you. The back doors would open and some white, hippy-looking guy would lean out and say "Hey man, I've got some really nice speakers to sell. You want some speakers?"

This happened to me at least 5 times as well as to some of my friends. I saw them approach other people too. It went on for at least a year, maybe longer.

If I recall, they only approached young white males walking alone, but I might be wrong.

Did this happen to you? And what do you think they were doing? I assumed at first they were just idiots trying to fence stolen goods, but now I wonder if it was some weird religious cult.

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Vague_Disclosure t1_itva91v wrote

This happened to me in my college’s parking lot in north jersey around 2010. I figured it was guys trying to fence some stolen electronics

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baldude69 t1_itvadfm wrote

Didn’t happen to me in Philly, but I’ve experienced it elsewhere, mainly in parking lots of box stores. It was definitely a scam - they would tell you they had an extra stereo that hadn’t been counted in inventory, worth $3000 but they’d “give you a deal” for $600 or so. Always looked fancy and had some fancy name like “premier sonic solutions” when in fact the speakers were cheap as can be and often would overload your amp and fry it. In fact, in the Hi-Fi world, they’re referred to as “white van speakers” since they look deceptively nice but in reality are awful

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Grapefruit-Happy t1_itvamm0 wrote

I think they would target college age males because college kids got money. Can't lie, I fell for it then bout the speakers were alright. I think my brother got them in his garage now.

Funny thing that I talked to the guys because they asked me if I like college basketball (I was at Temple then) and one of the guys said he played ball at Miami Univ. Of OH. Never bothered to check. But is all a scam. Could it be a cult? Don't know but is funny. I'm looking for a receiver so send them my way.

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FileEasy3098 t1_itvbg01 wrote

Happened to me in a Walmart parking lot. Seemed legit so I bought a surround sound system for $150. They even had a website that they pulled up to show me original prices. These guys were good!! Still have it sealed in the box if any of y’all want it! 😂

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omygoodnessreally t1_itvbgwg wrote

I would see them at Roosevelt Mall even earlier than that

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Robert_A_Bouie t1_itvblse wrote

Yes, I remember them. Side of the van had a magnetic sign "Shark Speakers" with a picture of a shark on it. They'd pull up to a young looking male and give them some BS line like "the warehouse was supposed to give us 8 to deliver today but they gave us 10 instead, we'll sell you two for $200 each." They tried getting me to bite one time in a parking lot in Jenkintown. I recall another encounter with them at a rest stop on the Westbound Turnpike, although that time it was just a white Ford Econoline van with no signs on it.

A friend of mine fell for it. They did sell him speakers but they were not very good, worth about what he paid for them, maybe a bit less. They didn't ask him to join a cult or anything. I think it was just a way to sell cheaply-made speakers to guys.

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Lazerpop t1_itvbulb wrote

They weren't stolen they were just garbage not worth the risk of frying your system by using

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mikewarnock t1_itvdeaa wrote

This happened to me when I lived around 18th and pine about 1999 or 2000. Two guido looking dudes in a white van pulled up to me on the sidewalk and told me they had these awesome speakers left over from a home theater job. They even had a brochure that had quotes about how good they were and how they retailed for 2k. I think they wanted $200 from me.

I of course declined. I can’t remember the name of the speakers.

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YohnYassidy t1_itvdz2p wrote

Yes, I remember this.

Do you remember a white van with a speaker that used to drive around selling "jersey tomatoes and JUMBO eggs"?

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SnapCrackleMom t1_itverpz wrote

Also meat. There were white vans that sold meat. Different white vans had different target markets. (I did not buy van meat.)

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Chestopher83 t1_itveuhp wrote

I got approached at the gas pump on the PA turnpike rest stop prob around 2003. Thank god I was addicted to percs back then so I had no money. I was definitely stupid enough to think I was getting a great deal.

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betterthenitneedstob t1_itvhgrw wrote

In the 80s I answered a job ad for a rock and roll job . Went for the interview there was a room with about 25 people there and a guy at a black board asking us what we would do with 2500 pay check per week. People were saying buy a sports car , designer clothes etc. I would answer feed the poor give to charities and was told I had a bad attitude. Then we were told to grab a folding chair and head to the vans that were full of large speakers in brand new boxes and sets of kitchen knives . That’s when I bailed not enough money in the world to sucker people in to buying that crap.

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beeps-n-boops t1_itvjmlz wrote

Yep, twice, in the same Taco Bell parking lot.

Anyone who buys anything from a rando on the street (or, even worse, in a fucking unmarked van) gets what they deserve IMO.

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TreeMac12 t1_itvjxtt wrote

This scam went back to at least the '80s. "Acoustic Monitor speakers with polyurethane woofers and tweeters" supposedly bound for Pulsations Nightclub or somewhere else. They had paperwork showing the value to be at $10,000 but would give them up for a quick $300 in cash

In reality they were worth less than $25.

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psc1919 t1_itvl59d wrote

This happened to me twice in NYC circa 2012sh.

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Pattern_Is_Movement t1_itvlqcs wrote

About that time I remember seeing a bunch of dressed up shitty speakers on FB marketplace. Basically they were like $20 speakers in big impressive cabinets with BS names etc.

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Suntag19 t1_itvn47r wrote

Happened in the burbs as well. Like Charlie Brown, you’d get rocks

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vi_girl t1_itvnf89 wrote

"laughin at baseheads, tryna sell some broken amps"

  • Illmatic, 1994
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jrl5019 t1_itvs8bh wrote

At least in this scam you receive a product you can use (maybe), albeit not worth it. Had a friend buy an iPad in a similar scenario that was still “factory sealed”. When he got home and opened it there was no iPad inside. Just a weighted piece to appear the weight was correct.

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pasnow t1_itvud84 wrote

Replying to Lazerpop (#239,789)

Yeah, they were just $40 cheapo stuff and they'd sell them for $80 but claim they were $200 speakers. Things like that. It wasn't only a Philly thing, and it wasn't a 2000-05 thing. Odds are only single, younger males would want to buy speakers, so they targeted them, not women or families.

It wasn't a cult, but I'm sure those guys weren't the best, probably hustlers out looking for side money. Drawn into it from friends, friends older brothers, or older brothers friends.

Funny, my brother in the early 90s worked his first job outta school and his boss came in one day and said "Oh wow, guess what?! I got the best set of speakers over the weekend. I was at the mall, and these guys had an extra set they were getting rid of, their boss made a mistake and gave them one pair too many..." He said they held up over time, no complaints, probably just something from K-mart. Not the Bose or whatever they claimed to be, but his boss swore they were great. Placebo effect probably.

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ted5011c t1_itvyfys wrote

Happened to me 25 years ago in front of a gas station in Durham N.C.. White van and all.

lol What is up with the consistent white van part of the scam?

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Jr10101010 t1_itvz2y1 wrote

Happened to me around 2005 in an NJ mall parking lot. Two younger guys said they were doing an install and their manager had accidentally ordered extra inventory that was already accounted for. I paid $150 for a pair of tower speakers. They gave me a real receipt too! Turned out they were some no name junk speakers. They worked but I definitely overpaid.

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Bnagorski t1_itw0lxq wrote

A guy I worked with worked for the white van people. They were just selling speakers, but instead of having a store they went out in vans and pretended to have an “extra” set. Their pitch was “the last time this happened my boss took them home etc…” they’d have a fake paid invoice that had the price as $1000 a pair but would try to sell them for 300-400 bucks. They weren’t stolen it was just a scam to make people think they were getting a great deal. I live here, and people in this area love getting a “fell off the truck” deal

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amanofewords t1_itw1y2x wrote

I actually knew a guy who did this. He transitioned to selling mortgages right up until the collapse.

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IKillZombies4Cash t1_itw5tf2 wrote

They were Alibaba on wheels before the WWW gave us all instant access to garbage.

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PhillyFunAltAcct t1_itw99ua wrote

Replying to baldude69 (#239,585)

This is quite accurate to what I experienced. They got me in Philly. Was a college freshman. My gut said to walk away and I went against that. They were very convincing and skilled scammers. Had a full catalog with pictures and prices. They said their boss accidentally had given them one extra surround sound system and they had to ditch it before they finished their deliveries. Said I could easily turn around and sell it for more, showed me with photos and matching model number that it sold for $3000. Brand new sealed box and all. It felt immoral, but I was tired of being broke. I went to an ATM and it overdrew my account, I had just under $300 and that was the price. So, I gave them the last of my money and more...but that was okay because I was going to easily sell it for $1500 minimum. It royally screwed me. When I showed him it overdrew my account, the guy looked like he sort of felt bad. He probably assumed I was some rich kid. Then as I got the system and he got back in the van, the same guy scoffed and muttered something insulting, I think he called me a fucking idiot. I hope they were eaten alive by 800lb grizzly bears, ass-first.

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pm_haiku t1_itwatrp wrote

They hit me up out in Lancaster in the mid-90's. Story was they were delivering to the Sam Goody down the street, and the warehouse loaded too many into the van, so they wanted to make some cash. I was a broke student at the time, so no deal...

If I remember correctly, a local news station did a story on them, it was a company with a strange business model selling speakers that looked and had names similar to real brands.

There is even a wikipedia page on the White Van Speaker Scam

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Rude-Location-9149 t1_itwdst5 wrote

Saw them in the burbs. My buddy got scammed by a different “team” in Texas. So I played along and wasted every bit of their time. Playing dumb, I have a decent Macintosh audio set already back then. So I would ask questions like “what’s the impedance matching on the speaker” “is there any type of low pass filtering”?. I looked the leader dead in his eyes and told him- man I forgot how’s the rest of this grift go? Arnt you supposed to tell me they’re $1,000 speakers but you’ll give them to me for $400. He called me an asshole and didn’t need to take me condescending attitude! He’s out here ripping people off but I’m the asshole! That’s like being homeless and starving but you’re only going to eat vegan food.

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garfipus t1_itwekyl wrote

Ran into this scam, but not working at a parking lot. I worked for a camera shop that had a side business doing eBay consignment. Someone convinced the owner to sell some van speakers, “Denaq” brand, who thought he was getting a good deal on them. I immediately knew what was up but was just told to list them. It was a summer job and the last few days before leaving for college, so I didn’t really give a shit or expect anyone to actually buy them. I hastily took a few pictures of the box(was told not to take them out of the box so they could be sold as new) and just grabbed the item details from what was on the box.

Came back on break a couple of months later to learn the buyer returned the speakers and opened an eBay dispute because they arrived crushed up inside the otherwise good box. The owners were wheeling-and-dealing types always looking for some angle to play so this blowing back on them was great.

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TwoSixtySev3n t1_itwhrgr wrote

Replying to Robert_A_Bouie (#239,750)

My boss fell for it in a 7-11 parking lot. Bought some “ Kirsch “ speakers. Came back to the job site saying “ I think I got scammed, what do you think? “ Looked it up and sure enough it’s a well known scam. There’s even a band named White Van Speaker Scam.

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Sagnew t1_itwlua5 wrote

I spend time in LA and it's currently happening quite frequently out here. I guess it SLLLOOOEWLLLYYYY moved it's way across the country

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Muggi t1_itwvp9y wrote

Hell yeah, they used to do that shit as early as 90-91

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SBRH33 t1_itwz9wh wrote

Ferro fluid cooled speakers. Lol. It was a real thing. Ive got stories.

The operation was run out of a warehouse in Conshohocken.

The partying was epic.

Wild times.

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unioncarp t1_itx0nyw wrote

I used to work for them. We had to sell the speakers for $100 but if we sold them for more we kept that money. We would meet in Northeast Philly but we would drive out as far as Carlisle Pa (just past Harrisburg).

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IrishOmerta t1_itx2m6l wrote

I worked at Best Buy during the holiday season one year (2001) and those white vans were there on a daily basis, they would try to sell speakers to customers in the parking lot. We would the police on them all the time, but they were always popping in and out, always gone by the time the police would show up.

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Frangi-Pani t1_itx4d0j wrote

I’m from the DMV and back around 2007 or so my friend in high school was approached by 2 men in a white van trying to sell him stereo equipment while on his way home from school.

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FasterThanTW t1_itx5sbm wrote

Yeah, this was a national, maybe even international, thing, not just in Philly.

Basically they were just selling crappy speakers, playing them off as high end ones that they "had an extra pair of", like they were implying that they were stealing them from their company.

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SouthPhilly_215 t1_itxijrn wrote

No. But I miss the guys who sold sneakers for almost my entire life in South Philly at the corner of 20th & Oregon out of the back of a truck.

Also… I miss Modell’s Sporting Goods A LOT man… I hate shopping for stuff you gotta try on online.

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CommunicationTime265 t1_itxnjt8 wrote

I was duped into working for one of those places in my early 20s...cus I was really dumb back then. They said the job was installing stereo systems. I was like okay sounds pretty decent. Showed up the first day and next thing I know I was riding shotgun in a big van, chasing people down in parking lots and trying to get them to buy shit. It was so greasy. The guy zi was with was also a religious nutcase who never shut up. As soon as we got back to the "shop" I just ran to my car and drove home feeling super shitty.

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PhillyFunAltAcct t1_itysxuo wrote

Replying to baldude69 (#251,208)

I don't believe in karma. Or some sort of invisible balancing force of justice in the universe. But I do believe they are low-lives. Almost guaranteed incapable of experiencing certain joys that decent, well-meaning people are. And their willingness to scam...means they're almost certainly chronic liars. To the point where they don't even know what the truth is anymore themselves. So they live in a world of fabrications made on the fly with their own mouths. They won't ever know the joy of a trusting relationship. Projecting their distrust on everyone they ever encounter in a constant state of paranoia. And adding one more "but what if he knows I know he knows" as they stack to the point of insanity. Then, periodically, they are filled with a sense of sheer panic as they realize they don't even know what is what in the world. Because they have deceived others, and therefore themselves, to such a habitual degree, they don't even have basic truths on which to function.

Grizzly bear was an impulsive anger expression. The Hellish existence above is actually highly probable. That's the scary truth of that path.

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FileEasy3098 t1_itz5x6v wrote

Replying to flacid_pp (#249,795)

I never even tried setting it up. After I bought the speakers, I came home and researched the brand. Everyone online said not to use it. Some people said that it’s a fire hazard and that you shouldn’t even plug it in. I’m glad that I didn’t pay even more. Seemed so legit. The lesson today is, trust nobody!!

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peeweejd t1_itz81fa wrote

90's in lower Bucks at a gas station for me. Showed me the speakers and all. I didn't fall for it though.

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SBRH33 t1_itzb7v2 wrote

Replying to NotSureNotRobot (#248,591)

The sell wasn't the point after someone wouldn't bite on the pitch.

Cocaine was abundant and used heavily by the sales teams.

Once sold 2 sets of speakers to Calvin Williams for $1200.

His check fucking bounced. We weren't supposed to accept checks. But Calvin was an Eagles wide receiver at the time so we thought fuck it. Good times. Lol.

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skimbosh t1_itzsr00 wrote

Replying to Robert_A_Bouie (#239,750)

That is the exact pitch and price I was offered. The second time it happened they were really aggressive and the police got them because they kept hanging out in the parking lot approaching people after they tapped the ATM. They got too greedy.

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