[Closed] "Unwanted clothes" leaflets.

Yep, there was an expose recently which made pretty shocking reading. Best not to donate into these bags.

I wondered about this a while back- closer reading of the flyers we generally get reveals that most of them are for commercial operations, with no mention of charities, though normally some vague mention of 'helping disadvantaged somebody-or-others'.

Not necessarily scams, but certainly taking advantage of people's tendency to assume that things are charity based simply because of the 'packaging'.

There's money to be made in selling tonnes of clothing and it isn't all going to charities. Think this was reported in The Times, will see if I can dig it out.

Gangs are creating complex networks of companies to evade payments to charities. Clothing is then shipped abroad. Police estimate that the scam is worth more than £50m a year. Eastern Europeans are involved in the scam.

I don't know, but I would guess that it's more likely to be Asian than Eastern European in this case judging by the leaflets. Well, either that or they're clever enough to make leaflets specifically targeted to appeal to the demographics in the area, I suppose.

And yes, I don't donate and never would. It's just the sheer volume of the sodding things that gets me. Either there's thousands of different groups at it, or there's someone thinking "well, they've not donated so far, but you know what they say, seven hundred and twenty-third time is a charm!"

Take all our unwanted clothing to reputable charity shops and use the free bags as bin liners 🙂

There are a few shops popping up near me buying your old clothes at so much per kilo so there must be some good money in it.

is everything a scam now?

The only one I use is the Air Abulance ones. There does seem to be a lot of random ones landing on our door mat, they just go in the bin.

We get one nearly every week for a non-charity, Jumali or something - they just sell them for cash..

is everything a scam now?

A charity worker I know said even some of the legitimate ones are run by third party companies with a % going to charity. We get a different bag nearly every day.

We get one nearly every week for a non-charity, Jumali or something

The Robin Williams movie?

The Robin Williams movie?

Did think I recognised some of my old clothes in that movie 😉

We had an unwanted clothes/material collection for our local Scout Group - it made over £400 in one morning from 2 villages! The group were paid by the kilo for the clothes and material.

You can see why unscrupulous folk are taking the pee.

going back a few years (i was still in the UK, so approx. five years ago) i remember some tv programm about self-made millionaires or some such.

there was one lady there who had started out doing this and was now worth millions. something along the lines of she would grab bags left outside charities and pinch the good stuff and flog it on ebay.

I put my old work clothes in them and leave them outside to be collected.

It may be a "scam" but it saves me the bother of doing anything else with them.

If they can make money out of my work gear when I've finished with it, good luck to them.

Gangs are creating complex networks of companies to evade payments to charities. Clothing is then shipped abroad. Police estimate that the scam is worth more than £50m a year. Eastern Europeans are involved in the scam.

"Eastern Europeans" (they're all the same, you know) are also involved in everything else in the UK, what with this being the 21st century and all.

Take all our unwanted clothing to reputable charity shops and use the free bags as bin liners

+1 Thats what I do as well. Also, chuck a couple of the bags in the backpack. Been used for quick poncho and picnic blanket on damp grass 😉

Quite handy.

I figured that 'involved' was implying that the scam originated in Eastern Europe. But don't let that stop your knee from jerking.

Eastern Europeans are involved in the scam.

Right that is it. I am getting together my right wing malitia to beat up the next Eastern European that I see.

Unfortunately, legitimate charities are losing out, not only to the bag thieves, but to the perception that is being created, so many people are taking the "don't donate" and "they're all scams" line.

Legitimate charity collections will quote a UK Charity Commission registered charity number. You can check this, and probably should. Ignore any "registered charities" that are "registered" in anywhere other than England and Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland.

Some legitimate collections are handled by third parties who make a profit, and give a cut to the charity. If this is legit, it will quote the registered company number of the collector, and the full charity bona fides of the beneficiaries. This isn't foolproof, as at least one major charity found they got next to nowt and the collectors made millions, but this shouldn't be confused with the "to help <insert ill-defined group of beneficiaries here> in <insert vague geographical area here>" ones.

If it doesn't quote a UK registered charity number, it's dodgy.

Someone mentioned air ambulances? Careful, there's been plenty of slightly more sophisticated air ambulance charity scams over the past few years: Supporting an existing, actual air ambulance fine, fundraising to buy an air ambulance in the future: possibly dodgy, there's been a few struck off by the Charity Commission that were raising funds to buy an air ambulance where none was needed, planned or ever likely to be provided.

I figured that 'involved' was implying that the scam originated in Eastern Europe.

GYAC mate this has been going on for donkeys. How do you think all those retro baseball jackets, denim and t-shirts got into the UK in the 80s?

The technology of the binbag and leaflet is newly-introduced to England, is it?

Are you being deliberately obtuse?

We're talking about the (alleged) scam running [i]right now,[/i] and by extension those people behind it. CG was suggesting, I believe, that the people behind [i]this particular scam[/i] are of Eastern European persuasion.

Jesus. In the 80s, trying to work out how I could get off with the ginger haired girl in 4C occupied far more of my time than considering the ethnic origins of faux-charity leaflet distribution.

konabunny - you're just being silly now! I'm only reposting snippets from the newspaper article.

People have "unwanted clothes" 😯

"do not throw out that tee with the 3D "lifelike lion head" motif. One day it will be fashionable, You'll be photographed by Grazia Style Hunter become a fashion icon to rival Alexa Chung and people will fall at your feet"

FACT

Damn, I've been scammed. I've got no clothes left now! 🙄

Not a pretty sight.