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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
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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 little more than gang of people getting together to resell used clothes. Many clothing scam companies use casual
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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.
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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
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labour to deliver the leaflets and collect bags of clothing. They are not officially employed by the clothing scam company, which does not keep a record of the people they use that can be checked.
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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'.
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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
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122:"The great charity bag rip-off: How shady firms are cashing in on your clothes donations"
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and making the public distrustful of all clothes collectors.
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120:Blackstock, Gordon; White, Nic (7 February 2016).
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166:"The Safer Giving Campaign - Charity Commission"
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23:A leaflet from a commercial collecting company
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16:Gangs claiming to collect for charities
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90:Clothing scams have operated in the
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151:"Charity Commission homepage"
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74:A 2016 investigation by the
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28:Clothing scam companies
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42:or to be working for
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144:External links
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170:. Retrieved
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38:clothes for
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131:25 November
126:Sunday Post
76:Sunday Post
65:small print
58:Advertising
172:2007-08-23
157:2007-08-23
104:References
82:networks.
52:donations
40:charities
36:used good
184:Category
168:. 2007
153:. 2007
190:Fraud
32:gangs
133:2019
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