The old white van speaker scam appears to be back in Lakewood, residents report to TLS.

The alleged scammers approached residents in the old Shop Rite plaza on Route 9, and attempted to sell them their products.

Several years ago, TLS received similar reports from residents.

“Drivers in a blue Chevy Astro car are going around showing an MSRP 3895.00 on a home surround sound sytem and say they have two extra on the delivery van that they need to sell before they go back to the warehouse. Please be aware that they got me for $800 dollars last year for two of them and tried to get me again,” a resident wrote.

This time, the alleged scammers were driving a white commercial vehicle.

According to Wikipedia, “The white van speaker scam is a scam sales technique in which a con artist makes a buyer believe they are getting a good price on home entertainment products. Often a con artist will buy generic speakers worth around $40 and convince potential buyers that they are premium products worth over $2,000, offering them for sale at around $200. 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 typical white van speaker scam involves one to three individuals, who are usually casually dressed or wearing uniforms. They drive an SUV, minivan or a commercial vehicle (usually a white commercial van, which may be rented inexpensively) that often displays a company logo. To find suitable targets, the van operators set up their con in moderately-trafficked areas, such as parking lots, gas stations, colleges, or large apartment complexes. Alternatively, they may target people driving expensive cars and wave them down. The marks (victims) are usually affluent, young people, college students, or others thought to have large amounts of disposable 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 (warehouse operator mistake, bookkeeping mistakes, computer glitch, etc.) or due to the client changing the order after supplies were purchased, they have extra speakers. 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 $1800 and $3500, prices often purportedly verified by showing a website, brochure or a magazine advertisement. Speakers are often given a fictional brandname,[1] 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.”

A Lakewood resident and victim wrote, “please do yourself a favor, if it’s too good to be true, it is. I hope I save people the few hundred dollars – don’t buy it, a resident wrote TLS.”

[TLS]