"Scam" Clothing Collections

moonrakerz

Just had two bags stuffed through my letter box for unwanted clothing.
They appear to have been delivered by the same person.
Neither of them was a name that I knew - so did a bit of Googling.

1. "Troop Aid" does appear to be a genuine charity - although the bags are distributed and collected by a commercial organisation who then say they donate money to the charity.

2. "Second Life". A beautiful logo showing a child and an adult holding hands in a heart shaped "frame" and a soulful looking young lad on the bag - really tugs at the heart strings !
BUT...........
On closer examination: Second life isn't a charity - it is a company called second life ltd. They claim on their website that they are "linked" to a charity in Lithuania !!!
The bag also has a "Reg No" on it which led me to a (genuine) website in the Irish Republic highlighting doorstep collection scams - this time linking second life to another charity, this time in the Ukraine !!


Be careful who you give stuff to ! It is a far better bet to take it to the shop of a charity you know as some of these scammers have been known to "collect" bags left out for bona fide charities.

Pollycat

moonrakerz
I think this is on the increase.

We get bags from all sorts of 'charities' through our door.

I use them for garden refuse and take my unwanted clothes and bric-a-brac to my local hospice shop.

maninthestreet

Pollycat wrote: »

moonrakerz
I think this is on the increase.

We get bags from all sorts of 'charities' through our door.

I use them for garden refuse and take my unwanted clothes and bric-a-brac to my local hospice shop.

Indeed, if you really want to make sure your unwanted clothes actually get to a charity, you have to take them there yourself.

eeeeeee

i leave the in the outside letterbox on average around 5 per week in my area

trumpton

Best to take your charity bag to a shop yourself as these scum will collect genuine ones that are left out too, not just their own fake charity bags. The clothes are sold on in eastern european shops or weighed in at rags merchants.

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

We haven't had any of these for a while, charity or scam. Pointless anyway I always ended up phoning them to collect the bags with old stuff in as they never bothered to collect them, gave up in the end.

wacko911

Was £800 a tonne a few years back for old clothes. Not sure what the going rate now is. Personally I dont mind getting ridd of crap I dont need and it not ending up in landfill. Charity no charity, its gone from my doorstep and not filling my wheelie bin.

Instead of these fake charity collectors someone should pay me a couple of quid or a percentage profit for each bag I fill and they collect? Business opertunity me thinks! If I ever get sacked, I might just start collecting sacks and make a stack.

DCFC79

We got a leaflet through the door other day and i think they would give you cash for your clothing etc, think it was £5 a kg

birkee

We've had as many as three in one day. (Don't know why our area is so popular.)
We turn them all into bin liners.
Take your stuff to the shop as posted above.

Mind you, awhile back I decided to make space by clearing out all the 'coffee table' books, and took them to the Cancer Research shop.
The staff were on them like kids on a rubbish tip in a third world country, I'll bet most of the books never made it to the shelves. It does leave a bitter taste.

trumpton

Hmm... I know that feeling. I gave a brand new Argos table and chairs set to a local charity shop (had been used to 'dress' the house we bought). Grumpy bloke collected it, complaining about having to wait whilst we disassembled it. It never appeared in the shop as far as I can tell. Reckon it went straight back to his house.

trukdiver

maninthestreet wrote: »

Indeed, if you really want to make sure your unwanted clothes actually get to a charity, you have to take them there yourself.

I used to work in an Oxfam shop and the bags they put out did actually end up in charity shops! So did the stuff from their clothes banks.