SCAM BEWARE! USA imported Home Theate System..from Van driver.

[dominator]

To share with all out here. This may be nothing new to you but to some others who are not aware and potential victims in near future.

I was walking along people's park carpack entrance area few days ago when this van stop beside me and 1 young guy came out and approach me.
He asked if I want to have a home theater system and can give it to me for free immediately. He told me that their van just got back from tuas factory and the storeman had rejected 3 sets of the system due to overload for the shipment. Now this young fellow told me "I don't want my boss to earn with these 3 extra system so decided to give away, you want you take. Just give me and driver some beer money will do! We do not want to waste time..how? We can unload here and you take or you need us to delivery to your house also can"

Then the driver camer down also, with a file and invoice in his hand he showed me the price of the speakers in USD and company name, etc. Also asked me want or not? He then immediately ask me to give him my home address which I decline the offer as I sense something wrong.
After I had rejected their offer, the idiot driver started cursing me! Then speed off on the van. I took down the Van no as GT7494Z and made a police report.

Surprisingly today while on HWZ forum I saw a thread on similar happening to other peoples.... http://forums.hardwarezone.com/showthread.php?t=922055 , so to all out here please take note if you read this! Next time shoot them with your camera!
Seems like they are everywhere with similar story to sell.
Lucky me...I never fall victim.

 

[Cheesecake]

wat's the catch?
direct them to MAtila's House lor.. it can do with a sound system! hehehe

 

[Cheesecake]

upz for CS members who haf yet to read the scam.

in the true spirit of CS...
1). anyone wanna do an M.O on the Hi-Fi?
2). approach the bengs and ask for TFCD?
3). anyone wanna form a search party for the van?


:bsmilie: :bsmilie: :bsmilie:

 

[dominator]

upz for CS members who haf yet to read the scam.

in the true spirit of CS...
1). anyone wanna do an M.O on the Hi-Fi?
2). approach the bengs and ask for TFCD?
3). anyone wanna form a search party for the van?


:bsmilie: :bsmilie: :bsmilie:

Alamak mai off topic leh, I trying to help CS members leh :sweatsm:
By the way, keen snipers can position themselves around SLS carpark, people park carpark...etc.

 

[Razor54]

What was the police response regarding the report?

 

[zaxh81]

next time we must summon the ice ice ah beng to counter. :bsmilie:

 

[surge]

this has happened to me more than 10 years ago. was in company van w my colleague and this ang mo fella signal me to wind down the window. i thought what happen and he told me he just realised he has extra 3 sets of top quality home system. since its extra can sell to me at very very good price. my friend and i just said not interested and drove off. didnt know today they still using hte same trick

 

[Cheesecake]

take it easy.

CSers are so smart and street-wise. they won't fall for this kinda small prank. they might even bargain till they get the hi-fi free even though they might haf agreed on a price beforehand!:bsmilie:

 

[Canonised]

This scam has been around for many years ..... normally the van will horn at your car in a car park and the driver will do a lot of hand signal ... then out of curiousity you will stop and listen to what he was trying to tell you. Then he will start asking you whether you want a Hi-fi or Recorders, or sometimes Durians!...
The van will sometimes drive past you slowly if you are walking in a car park and then the same sales pitch will start ....
Just ignore them if you realise that they are trying to sell you something .... "Sorry, not interested".... they normally will leave you alone.

 

[vince123123]

But this time the guy offer to give FREE leh!

 

[denniskee]

what likely the police will do if we report it (include vehical no.)?

track down vehical, find owner, and than question owner, owner say yes, he wanted to give away the system.

than what? any problem giving away stuff "free" to stranger? is there law against this?

:dunno: :dunno: but would like to know.

me also experience this once last year.

 

[contaxable]

what likely the police will do if we report it (include vehical no.)?

track down vehical, find owner, and than question owner, owner say yes, he wanted to give away the system.

than what? any problem giving away stuff "free" to stranger? is there law against this?

:dunno: :dunno: but would like to know.

me also experience this once last year.

Oh yes, the van scam is real. i usually look at them and smile as i waived at them to say farewell.

forget what the local enforcement team can do for you. it merely stacks up as one more file in the archive of the pc/server. Had tried being a good samaritan before and was quite perturbed to see what's in real practice. I happened to have taken courses in criminology beofre at a uni and some of the procedures are just wrong here. Collection of evidences are wrong and so is the route to investigate crimes.

In the end, we live much like emotionless components that conform snugly into a pattern of routine until we hit the coffin.

 

[denniskee]

so do you mean in real life, police can do nothing?

 

[kennyleong]

this "VAN" has been around for ages already.. tell me about it.. :bsmilie:

 

[contaxable]

so do you mean in real life, police can do nothing?

There is no case here to take them to court. Just like receiving a phone call from a strager that gives a persistant sales pitch. Try going to police station to say that a stranger violated one's privacy by giving a sales pitch. Even if a lawsuit was filed, the judge will likely throw the case outta window before any hearing because it has no basis.

As for trade, the law does not provide price guides. If two individuals agree on a certain price and transacted, the deal was done. Likewise, if a CSer sold a used item much higher than a brand new unit, it is not a crime either, but pure ignorance of the buyer.

Define what is illegal about hi-fi van sale as compared to a lady persistantly selling tissues in the food court? Yes the man was rude, but is rudeness a crime? The only crime i can convince the authority here is probable tax evasion.

I used to love high fidelity musical components and once went into a shop at SLS. I was trapped inside the shop as they refused to let me out since i tried out the products by listening to a few tracks. I was very young then. Fortunately, my uncle passed by, spotted me thru the glass window and came to my rescue. Do i have a case against them? Maybe... but i would not have enough evidences to convict them of a crime. To prove a case of entrapment is not easy especially since the victim suffered no injury.

While i do not support such activities, i also tend to choose the ignore option to these unkind individuals in the society. As for reporting the case to the police, it may not really help the situation.

To give you another real scenario. there was once a robber who ran into the back garden of my home and crossed over the fence on his path to escape. I saw him at the bus stop near my house. I walked into the police post to report a case and that the suspect, wearing a red t-shirt is at the bus stop (about 3 min walk away from PP). The police told me confidently that by the time they got out, the robber should be gone. i offered my particulars to them so they can contact me for further investigation since i recognised how he looked. Guess what? The two policemen told me, "no need." Dissappointed, i walked away feeling silly.

There was another case where i witnessed abduction and possible rape. i tried very hard to save the situation and fend off the bad guy. But the ordeal was long and the police took their sweet time to drive to the scene. The guy got away with the girl and the girl was pissed drunk. I was quite appalled by their attitude to collect evidences.

Really, dont bother as its only a procedure to report a crime. We should instead stay vigilant against all odds.

 

[Panzer]

To share with all out here. This may be nothing new to you but to some others who are not aware and potential victims in near future.

I was walking along people's park carpack entrance area few days ago when this van stop beside me and 1 young guy came out and approach me.
He asked if I want to have a home theater system and can give it to me for free immediately. He told me that their van just got back from tuas factory and the storeman had rejected 3 sets of the system due to overload for the shipment. Now this young fellow told me "I don't want my boss to earn with these 3 extra system so decided to give away, you want you take. Just give me and driver some beer money will do! We do not want to waste time..how? We can unload here and you take or you need us to delivery to your house also can"

Then the driver camer down also, with a file and invoice in his hand he showed me the price of the speakers in USD and company name, etc. Also asked me want or not? He then immediately ask me to give him my home address which I decline the offer as I sense something wrong.
After I had rejected their offer, the idiot driver started cursing me! Then speed off on the van. I took down the Van no as GT7494Z and made a police report.

Surprisingly today while on HWZ forum I saw a thread on similar happening to other peoples.... http://forums.hardwarezone.com/showthread.php?t=922055 , so to all out here please take note if you read this! Next time shoot them with your camera!
Seems like they are everywhere with similar story to sell.
Lucky me...I never fall victim.

Hmm, what's the scam about? Are they trying to sell illegal/stolen goods here? I too experienced something like that maybe about 10 years ago. But the 'excuse' used then was something like he had just been fired/resigned and did not want to return the goods to his company, so wanted to sell off the goods really cheap; any amount I wished! Of course, I just told him nicely that I was not interested as I always believe that there's no free lunch out there.

Interesting to know that this is still happening today and really like to know what their hidden motivation behind it.

 

[Moonstone]

No lah, kena curse for nothing also buay siong mah. I sympathize with Dominator, at least expose their :devil: method of doing business and that not the way to treat someone who refuse to buy their products.

Dominator, good that you bring this out, at least more people will be aware of this thing. :thumbsup:

 

[firestone]

But to be fair...
There are buyers paying abt $200 who said that they're worth that amt...

Even though those guys told lies abt their product, selling out of van,etc..It may actually be a GOOD BUY for that amt!:thumbsup:

Morally wrong, dubious etc etc..but it'll be hard for you to find any other $200 5 speakers home theatre systems that sounds as gd..If it sounds decent.why not?

 

[vince123123]

Our police is quite useless, whenever they can, they will siam.

If they can't siam, they will say "Its a civil case" even though its clearly a criminal case.

When that doesn' work, they'll say "please make a Magistrate's complaint so that we can exercise our full powers".

With all that procedures, its a wonder if they catch any criminals in action. By the time you jump through the hoops, the perp is long gone.

To give you another real scenario. there was once a robber who ran into the back garden of my home and crossed over the fence on his path to escape. I saw him at the bus stop near my house. I walked into the police post to report a case and that the suspect, wearing a red t-shirt is at the bus stop (about 3 min walk away from PP). The police told me confidently that by the time they got out, the robber should be gone. i offered my particulars to them so they can contact me for further investigation since i recognised how he looked. Guess what? The two policemen told me, "no need." Dissappointed, i walked away feeling silly.

There was another case where i witnessed abduction and possible rape. i tried very hard to save the situation and fend off the bad guy. But the ordeal was long and the police took their sweet time to drive to the scene. The guy got away with the girl and the girl was pissed drunk. I was quite appalled by their attitude to collect evidences.

Really, dont bother as its only a procedure to report a crime. We should instead stay vigilant against all odds.

 

[roadrunner_552]

Our police is quite useless, whenever they can, they will siam.

If they can't siam, they will say "Its a civil case" even though its clearly a criminal case.

When that doesn' work, they'll say "please make a Magistrate's complaint so that we can exercise our full powers".

With all that procedures, its a wonder if they catch any criminals in action. By the time you jump through the hoops, the perp is long gone.

haha they cant break their solving crime rate performances. If they cant solved, they will siam liao. haha