Criminal gangs have stolen €10 million worth of donated clothes
Howard Lake | 10 August 2011 | News
The Irish Examiner is reporting that charity shops in Ireland have lost an estimated €10 million in the last two years because foreign crime gangs are stealing donations of clothes that householders leave outside their doors.
Among the 16 charities said to be affected are the Irish Cancer Society, Barnardos, Age Action, Enable Ireland, Threshold, St Vincent de Paul, the Simon Community and MS Ireland.
Paul Hughes, spokesman for the Irish Charity Shops’ Association, said the thefts are perpetrated mainly by Eastern European and African-based gangs.
Mr Hughes, who is also general manager of the Irish Cancer Society’s charity shops, said the only way to ensure donations were going to genuine charities was to take them directly to their shops.
Mr Hughes told the Irish Examiner that charities had changed collection times and routes to try to “keep ahead” of criminals who were waiting and watching their routine and stealing the bag before they were picked up by their intended recipients.
Garda sources maintain Lithuanian and Latvian gangs are the worst perpetrators when it comes to charity clothing thefts. Mr Hughes said leaflets purporting to be for legitimate charities were being dropped into houses by the gangs.
The gangs clean the clothes and sell them on in markets and shops in Eastern Europe and Africa.
He said all genuine charities will drop bags with their names clearly printed on them to households, but bogus collectors simply leave leaflets that will not have an address or landline number on them.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.