HawthorneVillager.com

Hi folks;

I was at the Canadian Tire parking lot eating my lunch when some guy in a black SUV drives up and says, 'Hey! Wanna buy a home theatre system?'

Since I design and install home theatre systems, naturally I was interested.. but also because I know about 'these guys'.

I asked him his name, he said Steve.

He said he got an extra home theatre system from his boss that normally sells for $2000 and willing to let it go for only $600! What a deal! He even had an invoice in his hand showing the pricing that he 'paid'.

I told him it wasn't worth $600 and he insisted that this was quality equipment.

I took a quick look at it.. It was the same garbage you can buy at XS Cargo for a few hundred bucks.

I offered him $50. He got somewhat agitated saying "I paid a lot more than that for it!" I responded, "Ah so the guy you bought it from made money too."

I told him that I know what this stuff is, I know what this scam is, and that what he was doing was taking advantage of people.

He said that this was all just marketing and that there was nothing wrong with it. I told him that's nice, I have your license plate number, enjoy your day and walked off.

This is a well documented scam. They buy cheap systems from someone else higher up the chain, get sent out to drive around parking lots and sell them to unsuspecting buyers for cash. It's garbage.

Avoid them. You will be ripped off.

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Professional - Audio - Video - Data - Security - Central Vac - Insured - Trained - Certified
http://www.phand.ca/

My Brother got ripped off with these guys a few years ago... They got him at a gas station in Mississauga.

He basically bought cheap ass speakers from a back of a cargo van. He paid $150 for the pair, which was WAAYY to much.

They were suppose to be 100 watts, three way speakers, fluid cooled, and have a built in passive crossover.

The speakers were 100 watts combined (high 15, mid 30 low 55), no fluid anywhere in the speaker, and not over way there no crossover, there were 3 cold solder joints i had to re-solder.

All and all he got ripped off.

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Pain is Temporary Pride is forever

I see these types of guys all the time in the parking lot around Hurontario and Eglington (sp). I also got them at heartland by the Costco.

They are vultures, and they really are selling crap.

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Kelly
Amesbury

I've seen them everywhere .... even Barrie.

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HVE

What I don't understand is why anyone in their right mind would buy merchandise from the back of a van from someone they don't know regardless of the price.

Saying that, my dad did buy half a dozen "leather" (later confirmed to be pleather) coats from a little Italian guy in a motorway service station in England

and a friend of mine bought a dvd player about 8 yrs ago (when they were a little pricy), he never opened the box at the site. When he reached home he found old books in it .

Similarly, a colleague at work bought a sealed computer system from a guy who had a web hosting shop. the box was all sealed, whenhe brought it home to open it, it had chinese books in it.

Always open and inspect the box befoer you buy it. Best is dont buy it from these fakers

They were in the beer store parking lot in Bolton last summer. They were selling an all in one home theatre system with speakers. OPP was there and after an hour they were released. i guess someone called the cops on them

Matt

I was approached by this guy last year at Square One mall's parking lot. he was in a Black Cadillac Escalade (older model).

DONT BUY ANYTHING!! ITS GARBAGE!!

Is it new to Canada?
I have seen things like this in Europe many years ago.
Most common was guys with “Swiss watches”.

I have heard of these guys for many many years.... 10 years at least.

here is a list i found of the web to watch out for....

Watch carefully for the similarities in some of the names!

Acoustic 3312 Studio Monitor
Acoustic Lab Technology
Acoustic Monitor
Acoustic Response
Acoustic Response Series 707
Acoustic Image 3311 / 3312
The above are not to be confused with real companies such as:
Acoustic Research,
Acoustic Image,
Acoustic Lab Technology

Advanced Sound Technologies AST X2 1055

Audiofile
Audiofile 583LR
Audiofile 835LR

Audio Tech

Dahlton KV 1500
Dahlton KV 2500 TI Speakers
Dahlton AV5.1 THX

DiVinci - NO CONNECTION TO BOSE LABS AT ALL!
DiVinci D6 and ALL other models

Denmark
Denmark Loud Speaker E830LR
The above should not be confused with the real company Denon

Digital Audio SL-3810
Digital Audio DA 2000SL / 2000CS
Digital Audio 2000
Digital Audio Professional Speaker Systems SL-3810
Digital Audio Skyline 900-SL
Digital Audio SL-3910 Speakers
Digital Audio 2003 DA 5.1 Pro-Series III

Digital Dogg Audio

Digital Pro Audio
Digital Pro Audio SL-T 2.8

Digital Research 5.1 Pro Series
Digital Research DA 5.1 Pro Series III

Dogg Digital

Dynalab
The above should not be confused with the real company Dynamat

Epiphany Audio speakers

Elite Audio (not to be confused with Yorkville's Elite line of speakers)
The above should not be confused with the real company Yorkville Elite

Fleetwood Audio

Genesis
Genesis 508 and all other models
Genesis Media Labs

Grafdale
The above should not be confused with the real company Wharfdale

Hauffman

Innovative Sound Digital Pro Audio

Kirsch X3

The above should not be confused with the real company Klipsch

Linear Phase
Linear Phase studio monitors
The above should not be confused with the real company Phase Linear

Matrix
Matrix Audio Concepts
Matrix MX-505T & all other models

Millenium
Millenium MTS 2208

Omni Audio

PSD
PSD (2.
The above should not be confused with the real company PSB

PTS (Precision Transducer Systems)

Palermo
Palermo VA 6.1

Paradyme
The above should not be confused with the real company Paradigm

Pro Audio

Pro Dynamics

Proline Acoustic

Protecsound PT-5000 digital surround sound system speakers

Samurai 518

Skyline AD-900SL
Skyline Digital Denmark 800 or 900 "series"

Studio Tech
Studio Tech (Pro Poly Series)

Theater Innovations (Ti 5100)

Theater Logic

Theater Research TR-900
Theater Research TR-1120
Theater Research TR-1410 Digital Sound Speakers
Theater Research 2380
Theater Research TR-2810
Theater Research TR-5210 Professional Home Theater
Theater Research TR5160
Theater Research TR6000
Theater Research TR-6100 Digital Sound/5.1 Home Cinema
Theater Research 8810
Theater Research Pro Series III Professional Home

Ultra Digital Labs




Manufacturers of these garbage speakers:
• Audio Wood Products
• Century Distributors PTY LTD
• PTS (precision Transducer Systems
- Dynalab
• Global Audio Network
• JAM Entertainment/JAM Enterprises, now known as Kelfi Distributors
• Millennium Speakers
• Omni Audio or Omni Audio Products
• Orca Distributors
• Republic Distributors, Inc. (parent of Omni and Dynalab) or Republic Distributors Of Canada or Republic Distribution GmbH
• Sound Illusion Production

_________________
Pain is Temporary Pride is forever

I LOVE MiltonNew 2007's list of 3 things to look out for!!

About 10 years ago I got approached in a Zellers parking lot....same situation. These guys told me that they "loaded" an extra set of Samurai speakers and they were willing to sell them off at something like 500 bucks.

I chuckled a bit, then offerred the 35 dollars I had in my pocket and a broken disc man (remember those ???). 10 years later, the speakers are still kicking in my garage.

Laptops are another scam. Someone I know got took - in the shrunk wrapped package they got a brand new, deluxe........phone book. And a free interent CD (AOL). That was one expensive phone book !!!!

I had always assumed that guys in the trucks had real goods, but they were stolen. I guess for those to lazy to steal something of legitimate value to fence in a parking lot, they are just pretending with some cheap garbage.

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14C - Lot 82 - Upland B
Roleplaying Game Software for your iPhone: RPGTouch

That's what makes it such a clever scam, because everyone does assume that. Makes it unlikely that they'll get caught, as long as they don't hang around in one place too long, since not too many marks would actually call the cops afterward.

Would be a great conversation to eavesdrop on though ... "Yeah, so I was trying to buy some stolen goods in the Canadian Tire parking lot but I mistakenly bought a phonebook instead. Now I want to press charges!!"

It's also why there's not much sympathy for the marks -- probably more like snickering behind their backs. Kind of poetic justice.