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RE: That time I got scammed in Thailand (true story)
Wow, what a pain in the ass. But in my 20s I ran into so many scammers in my travels. It kind of sucks because I used to be much more open and friendly with strangers but now I am more suspicious of everyone. I kind of hate that I feel that way now.
To be fair, even in my current 'suspicious' state, I am still more trusting than most people so I have to be careful.
Did you ever come across those guys in the 90s who used to pull up to you in a van acting all freaked out trying to sell speakers that were supposedly overstock that their boss didn't know about? They got me once.. I paid them like 200 bucks for some studio speakers. But to be honest, I didn't mind too much because I used them for years.
your speakers story didn't end like i thought it would. In a twist of fate a Thai friend of mine went to the U.K. and got sold a notebook computer that was swapped out at the last minute for a bag filled with potatoes using some sleight of hand by some "students" in a car on the side of the road.
This is why i am not saying Thailand is evil because of this... they clearly targeted my friend because he was Asian.
It depends on the speakers but i guess what was going on there was these guys had stolen merch and needed a backstory?
I think a certain amount of paranoia is a good thing but we gotta find balance!
Ah, so the speaker scam turned out to be a really weird thing. It ended up being on the news.
So there was actually a real speaker company that had a gimmick going on. They bought a bunch of white vans and stocked them with loads of new boxed speakers. The speakers were branded with some unknown label that sounded expensive. I can't remember what it was, but I assume they were made in China or somewhere like that.
They would hire 2 guys for each van. They would then drive the van around town and pull up next to you in a parking lot, jump out looking around like they are watching out for cops or something. They'd walk up to you all on the down low and say something like
'Hey, man - We went to pick up a load of high end $2k speakers for the boss and they put too many on the van. We are trying to sell them before we get back to the office.. We'll give them to you for ... idunno 300 bucks'
Then you'd either buy the speakers or haggle with them for a minute. Either way, you leave thinking you got $2000 speakers for like 200 bucks. In reality, they were just selling their own knock off speakers street style.