Saturday, March 3, 2012

Mclaren Technologies MT-7 Scam


This part of my life is called being stupid.

I'm attempting to use social media to spread the word and make people aware that this is a new method of scamming people, and that it barely started less than a year ago.

It was a great day. I just got my paycheck after work, and then stopped by the bank on my way home to deposit it. As I was about to exit the bank parking lot, a gold SUV with two Caucasian males tried to get my attention.

The driver asked me if I was interested in a Home Theater System and then told me to park my car. I was a little skeptical but also curious at the same time so I decided to check it out. First of all, I was all by myself against these two other dudes. That was enough to make me suspicious.

The driver steps out and tells me about this "MT-7 HD Sound System" and that they were just coming from an installation and that they had extra products. He said that they had seven boxes when they were only supposed to "install" five. He also said that they were going to return it to their boss if they return to the warehouse. I immediately thought that they had a surplus situation on their hands, and that they were trying to make a profit out of it.

He showed me an invoice which I analyzed for about five minutes. He pointed out that each box was worth $1,999. He even showed me a DMV ID, which I thought was really shiny (Later on I realized that the new DMV licenses are vertical, and that other licenses are not really supposed to be glossy). 

He told me that he could give it to me for $500, "A quarter of the price," he says. I told him that I didn't have enough even in my bank. Then his partner steps out of the car and aggressively tells me that they're desperate. He tells me, "You know what? How much can you afford? Come on man!" I tell them that I'm an innocent broke college student who has tuition due in two weeks.

He gets his box and forcefully puts it in my car and tells me that he'll just ask for about $160. He also adds that they don't want to return it to his boss (who he claims is an asshole).
He also explains how they tried to sell it to another guy, but he tried to pay with a check. That was a red flag to me, but I just thought that they didn't want their boss to find out. I agreed to get it from them thinking that I could sell it for profit. I asked for a business card, but he said he didn't have any. I also noticed that they weren't wearing any uniforms either, except for casual beach clothes. Another red flag. But why was I stupid enough to still go on with it? I'm guessing it was peer pressure.

So I just decided to walk up to the ATM, and withdraw the cash. Handed it to him, and then he started walking quickly back to his SUV. I managed to grab the driver's number to tell him that I might have another friend who might want one.

After arriving home, I inspect the box. The first thing I notice is the image of the items in the box. They don't appear to cost $2000. I remember buying a 5-speaker set that was worth $50. Then I checked the quality of printing on the box. It appeared like it was designed in MS Paint (the image becomes distorted and pixelated after saving). The image resolution of the print was low and there were a lot of.


Here's a photo of the box, in case you run into these guys.


Print is blurry, has low resolution, and unprofessional.


How can it be made in both China and USA?


This is the sub-woofer, I opened it just to find an ordinary speaker. Very poor quality for a $1,999 set of speakers.


These wall speakers must be top-quality...not.


Upon having a closer look, one of the speakers had damage. That's something you shouldn't see on an expensive speaker set from China.


If you notice the orange item on the right, you'll know it's been badly photo shopped. Oh and that's a really great font choice for a luxurious sub-woofer.


Let's see what's inside these really expensive speakers.


Aha! A precious bag of sand from the Arabian Peninsula? Do they make them sound in High-Definition quality?

 
I really think they overdid the packaging here. So much High-Definition!


Their website is totally unreliable. Very unprofessional-looking.

I do Web and Graphic Design on the side, and I know that their website is so amateur that at first glance, you can tell it's a scam. I should have known better.

It's been two hours since this happened to me, and I'm already thinking of ways to bring some justice to everybody who got scammed.

I've searched all over the internet and stumbled into YouTube videos and numerous stories.
This type of scam has been going on for less than 6 months, which means it's still fresh and there's a chance we can prevent these parasites from turning other innocent people into victims.
Here's what I have so far:
  • The driver's phone number (714) 258-6295. 
(This telephone number can be traced online through a reverse phone look up website, but it costs a couple of dollars and I don't feel like spending anymore after being victimized.)
  • Their fake website: Mclarentechnologies.com
 As a Web Designer, I used WhoIs to look up the domain registration. Looks like it's privately registered, so we can't get an address. The hosting provider (GoDaddy) will not disclose any information due to privacy policies.
  • The possibly fake address: 10073 Valley View St. Suite #260, Cypress, CA 90630.
This address leads to Genesis Media Labs. Many people have complained about being scammed by them before.
  • They found me in a Chase Bank in Huntington Beach, the one by Edinger and Beach Blvd.

Thankfully I lost only $160 compared to those who gave up $300 or more. I'm just trying to get over my anger and I'm also doing my best to earn that $160 back through hard work.

33 comments:

  1. goddamn same here. chase bank parking lot. too bad the bank doesn't have camera footage they can provide of the license plates and shit...or do they?

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  2. They hit Hampton Bays and the eastern Long Island side today. I found out for myself today as well. I have to stop my obsession with electronics. They seem to aim for places that are heavily populated with some sort of atm or bank nearby. This was a silver van with jersey plates and 2 jersey shore ****heads stealing innocent peoples money. They'll get caught eventually. Karma always wins.

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  3. Just happened to me today. Piscataway Nj, in a wendys parkinglot.. have the guys phone number. 570.216.0801. Thinking of reporting it to the authorities after i get out of my JOB.

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  4. hey wow!!!!! man the same thing happened to my mom well actually to my sister and then she gaves it to my mom without knowing, i was really shocked when i saw these pictures then i rushed to open it and there it was full of sand!!!but since it was in the streets there's not much we can do about it,i just hope people dont buy it, thank u so much for this information and i wish you get rewarded!!!! my email is duksertu@gmail.com i'm from nyc

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  5. Some guy off Craigs List just tried to trade this "home teatre" as he put it, to me for my $600 mountain bike. Ya. Good thing I google things before I buy/trade for 'em. Especially if it's from a random ass guy and not retail. Hint hint. USE THE POWERS OF GOOGLE!

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  6. they are here in New Jersey!! i got ripped by one for $300.00 same story as above!!

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  7. apparently theyre everywhere, i just got got in springfield missouri. drivers number 847 337 7769 was in a red ford van, if youre reading this right now im looking out for you with .357 magnum in hand and the next person i see trying to sell one is going to flat out get their ass beat in the streets. vigilante justice will take care of this scum

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  8. they just got me for 600 with the thearter system and projector with screen. i was doing it for my kids to have a movie night, and now we do not even have a Tv. I wish i could do something, i never forget a face so im sure i will see this guy again one way or another.

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  9. My co worker just pay 650 for a mclaren t 7 i fell bad for ham houston tx

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  10. Sad to say that this happened to me a few months ago in Paramount, CA next to a Chase ATM!!! Thank God I only gave up $100! I'm still pissed about it and I hope they get caught and everyone gets all their money back somehow!!

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  11. I just read all this and i felt i just fell into same scam.About 5 days ago someone approached me after i left an ATM told me of this mclaren and i gave him $150 but as i plan to give this as birthday present i was curious to know the actual cost when i saw this scam , whaooo ,i know i am a victim already. Geogia State

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  12. So my dad is a maintinence supervisor for an apartment complex in Scottsdale AZ. About a month ago, he had to evict a resident for non payment and after the guy finally left the place, he left behind a lot of his personal things in there. By law the property has to keep the items for a minimum of 90 days before it becomes their property and that just recently passed so my dad asked me to come over and help him go through all of it to see if there was anything of value there that the property could Ebay to try and recover some of the costs of non-payment and the necessary facelift the place would need after he wrecked it - i.e. new paint, carpet, appliances etc... I saw a stack of boxes in the corner of the place covered with a blanket but judging by the rest of the house and how gross it was I didnt know what we would find. Well it turned out to be 4 boxes of a 5 piece home theater system with McLaren MT7 printed on the side. I thought that we hit a jackpot and were going to be able to recoup all costs and then some for sure and when I looked on their website I was blown away thinking that they just found $8000 worth of speakers! Anyway, I was telling my dad the value and he was relaying to his boss when I stumbled across this site - I really hated to dissappoint him but I took apart a speaker and showed him the sand before he believed me --it sucked to tell him they were fake. He was really excited and thought he would get some major kudos from the boss for making all the money they lost back but instead it cost him another $35 for a trip to the dump!! I know this was pretty longwinded but I thought that it was funny/sad/and maybe even will teach someone a lesson ... when you get evicted from a rental property make sure you take all your stuff with you cause if you forget any, the property management will sell your shit or throw it away :)

    Just my $.02 ---

    Scott

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  13. Grrrr same here , I'm out $200 I should've known better! I'm do pissed I'm a single mother of 3 , the guys approached me as I left Kmart in Bronx NY I swear if I see the guy again I will shove the damn woofer up his butt! I have the cell number but no answer, I left a message saying I need another one for a friend but I know I won't see them again ... I feel so stupid but I leave it in Gods hands!

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  14. Same thing happened to my husband. He only dropped 80$ on them tho. The guy found us in a Walmart parking lot. I popped open the speakers and found the sand. Thank you for showing me this.

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  15. Same thing happened to me today. Im washing my truck at the carwash and a guy in a busted up dodge Dakota parks next to me and offers me electronics. He states he has this speakers that are worth 1999.99, but that he buys in large quantities and gets them cheap. He said that he would leave them at $400. I told him that i didn't have the that amount of cash. He said how much do you have? I told him$100. He said that if i could come up with atleast another $20 for beer money. I told him no. He took the $100 and he told me if Im interested in more to call him (he wrote his name and number in the box) then we departed ways. My wife and i thought that this deal was so good to be true so we googled the name brand and behold (SCAM SCAM SCAM). So we opened a speaker and their was the sand. We called the guy back and told him another friend was interested and that he was willing to pay $400. He agreed to meet at the grocery store. By then i had called the cops and they surrounded his truck and arrested him. YAY!!!! Thank you all for posting this on the internet if it wasn't for you we would not had this guy behind bars tonite. Im from Edinburg, Texas

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    Replies
    1. omg i love you. i got scammed today for $800. I bought 2 of them. same thing as all the others but mine actually worked believe it or not. They sound ok too but not worth that much. I feel so stupid and greedy trying to make money now I'm out $800. I can't believe mine work though that is really trippen me out. god bless you for catching that no goo con.

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  16. Thank you so much for posting this! My mother-in-law fell for this same scam unfortunately and by reading your post, we have confirmed its fraudulent and have found the sand!

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  18. Too funny. I was having a rough day so I said "what the heck" 240 bucks in Fresno on Jan 27th 2013. Same story, same everything. The address is a fake btw. After a lot of trial and error I got the system to sound ok. I Not sure if it separates dolby 5.1 yet. They both were white with sunglasses and hats, right in front of my bank cameras and everything. Oh well. The cases are nice and I'm pretty handy so I may replace some parts. Haha. I had a feeling. Mine were sold under the MADRID AUDIO V6 label. Same address. They are also selling through Craigslist. 2500 watts my ass. Ha. By the way, even some major brands are put sand in electronics to weigh the down. Especially desk top systems. But these guys are frauds. With there story I had a feeling they could have been stolen. I bought a them anyway. Shame on them, me and you. If you catch them then what. They may not even get arrested. Live and learn. I got suckered.

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  19. Mine came with all the mounts, hdmi cable and speaker cable. Too bad. These aren't too far off of being worth a few hundred bucks. I'm gonna upgrade mine. Most of the components aren't bad and they all function surprisingly enough. A few new speakers could do the trick. Makes you think though. The bags of sand may have been bags of something else at one time. Hmm. These items are worth money. They can't be making very much. Something else is going on here.
    Sorry for typos and incorrect auto corrects. On my cell.

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  20. I got played by then with $600 but I'm fixing my case after a few search find out who the were this the boss numer of the 9495665587 please report this man to the police also copi this number and paste on facebook on search you will find his bussness there his name is al mitchelle thas the only way you find him I'm takin my case to court so people please report this man as a scan email me if you need more information hidalgo93@live.com

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  21. 2 white guys in an old gray pick up truck full size. same story as everyone exactly. passengers name is shane. The number he gave me is 2482126867. This hapened in warren Michigan at a gas station. I feel such a fool. $800 smackers and I have no job. Been saving and wanted to make a profit. What a sucker. wooooooooow. I'm calling the news tomorrow and tell them I have a story for them.

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  22. I paid 100 bucks for mine in Arizona. Hooked them up to my reciever and guess what... THEY WORK GREAT.

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  23. This is just a re-tread of a really old scam. I bought crap speakers from a couple of guys in a van in 1989. I think I paid $100 for them, but in 1989 dollars. They actually worked okay, at least for my young, untrained ears back then.

    In 25 years, the $160 won't make a difference to you, but the lesson you learned here will still be with you. Thank these guys for giving you an education. Remember, you can't cheat an honest man. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is, walk away.

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  24. Wow, my hubby was approached about 2 years ago, similar story to, I was so mad he spent $200.00 on the system, it was the MT-510 though. But I guess we were a little more fortunate, considering that ours work til this day. But never again, and he learned his lesson, especially since HE had to bust his butt to make that money back.

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  25. I just encounted these two white guys in a navy blue Chevy Avalanche who tried to sell me the same MT-7xx model. They also had a projector, a screen, and a TV. They told me they just installed some stuff for their boss and they had some left over and they wanted to get rid of them. They wanted $500 for them. The passenger told me it's a 2000 watts amp and showed me the invoice and all with with some crap with an MSRP of $3999. If that price difference doesn't disturb you, then i don't know what would, not to mention he moved the whole box with 2 fingers. I have a JBL HT system at home that I bought in 2004 for $350, the speaker weighs about 3lbs each and the sub almost broke my back. So i know my HT systems. 2 fingers? Really? Anyway i told them i dont have any money, and he said "u can't at least go to the ATM?" So i told the guy i would get him a $100, and he said no and got in the car and the driver drove off.

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  26. My brother-in-law got sucked in with this. He came to me telling me how he got a great deal and he needed help setting it up. I looked in the box and said "wheres the av receiver" then googled it and found it was a scam. In the end he bought an av receiver to turn a bad thing good.

    Has anyone set this up? The thing is that the subwoofer is passive and doesn't have a subwoofer out cable, I think you have to link it between the 2 front speakers, where the wires go from the av receiver to the subwoofer to the the speakers. I've also read things that go over my head like if the speakers are 3 ohms they will blow the av receiver. I know how to set things up but I am clueless when it comes to speakers not being compatible, I always thought you could plug any old thing in.

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  27. They are also in California..... lake elsinore outside of wells Fargo by Wal-Mart... my cousin in Washington....... if you have a sound amplifier they work, and sound quite neat and loud at the same time..... mine are hd.... the big one... I don't have a powerful enough amplifier for it, but it works....... we bought them for 85 bucks a box..... we are good bargainers

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  28. I for one love them. 2 have been damaged and I need to replace them but I cannot find single sets. All I can find are sets that are complete. These speakers are great but they are passive, which means they are only as powerful as the unit powering them. I have a 200 watt pioneer system powering it and it shakes my apartment floor!

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  29. Just got burned yesterday. Bags full of sand with red zip ties. Fuck.

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  30. My box had no wires, connectors or instruction, Nothing but speakers and the woofer and no way to contact them.

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  31. Rapidly this kind of internet site can easily unquestionably recognition among virtually all blogging and site-building and also site-building individuals, to be able to the meticulous content or simply opinions. mclaren store

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