Clothing charities hit by bogus collectors

BOGUS charity clothes collectors are stepping up their operations in the run-up to Christmas, with some householders receiving up to six flyers a week urging them to donate.

The ongoing problem — whereby organisations pose as charities and appeal for donations — is said to be costing Irish charities huge losses in revenue.

A spokesperson for Enable Ireland says it has been badly affected by bogus collectors and thieves breaking into clothing banks and stealing the contents.

“We estimate that as much as 20% to 40% of the items collected through textile banks and house collections are stolen,” she said.

“We are constantly investing time and resources into combating this theft. This persistent theft and vandalism has cost us an estimated €50,000 so far this year.

“The thefts from textile banks is of great concern to us.”

While the fliers do not specifically state the operators are charities, the wording used suggests they are by using key words such as “donate”, “support” and using emotive images, of a child crying or a family.

The misleading impression is in some instances reinforced by a reference to a registration number, which people may think is that of a registered charity, but is in fact a limited company number or a collection permit number.

In reality, the collections are thought to be organised by commercial operators who sell the donated items for profit.

John Dennehy, president of a Cork branch of the St Vincent de Paul, said the problem was nationwide, and seemed to be getting worse.

“I had five or six fliers in my door in a week. People don’t really care who they give their old clothes to as long as they are getting rid of them, but if they realised these are not really charities I’m sure they would think again,” he said.

Mr Dennehy said the people operating the scam often targeted their clothing banks too by putting small children through the opening to pass out the clothes.

“We got a phone call to go down to one of the clothes banks to open it as a little boy had got stuck in there while passing the clothes out,” he said.