Clothing scam companies are companies or

gangs A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

that purport to be collecting

Used good Used goods mean any item of personal property offered for sale not as new, including metals in any form except coins that are legal tender, but excluding books, magazines, and postage stamps. Risks Furniture, in particular bedding or upholstere ...

clothes for

charities A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a cha ...

or to be working for charitable causes, when they are in fact working for themselves, selling the clothes overseas and giving little if anything to charitable causes. They are a particular problem in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, where they rely on people's awareness of proper charities established practise of collecting used clothes for good causes. These companies cause major problems for established charities in terms of lost

donations A donation is a gift for charity, humanitarian aid, or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including money, alms, services, or goods such as clothing, toys, food, or vehicles. A donation may satisfy medical needs such as b ...

and making the public distrustful of all clothes collectors.

Advertising

A popular tactic of clothing scam companies is to leaflet a particular area and then move on before people become aware that the company is a clothing scam company. These leaflets will often illegally claim that they are either charities or working for established charities. Often they will state in

small print Fine print, small print, or mouseprint is less noticeable print smaller than the more obvious larger print it accompanies that advertises or otherwise describes or partially describes a commercial product or service. The larger print that is us ...

that they are a commercial company, but will prominently place wording that implies they are, often quoting very vague charitable aims such as 'third world collection' etc. These companies are very difficult to prosecute as frequently they are not in fact companies at all, quoting fictitious company names or someone else's company name, when in fact they are just a gang of people getting together to resell used-clothes. Many clothing scam companies use casual labour to deliver the leaflets and collect bags of clothing. They are not officially employed by the clothing scam company, which doesn't keep a record of the people they use that can be checked. A 2016 investigation by the

Sunday Post ''The Sunday Post'' is a weekly newspaper published in Dundee, Scotland, by DC Thomson, and characterised by a mix of news, human interest stories and short features. The paper was founded in 1914 and has a wide circulation across Scotland, N ...

found that only a small amount, if any, of the value of the clothes donated was given to charity, and discovered evidence of links to

organised crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

networks.

United States

Clothing scams have operated in the United States as well. However, rather than hire people to collect clothes, they will place a bin by a gas station, shopping mall or high-traffic area. It is common for collection bins to change names quickly. This is difficult to detect for two reasons: there are legitimate charities such as the

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

that have earned a reputation for honest collection of used clothes as well as the fact that those who often donate used clothes generally do not consider it a great sacrifice in the first place; simply disposing of often threadbare attire that would have otherwise been outright discarded.

References

External links

* *{{cite web , title = The Safer Giving Campaign - Charity Commission , year= 2007 , url = http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/registeredcharities/sgc.asp , accessdate = 2007-08-23 Fraud