Group Must Pay $700K Penalty For Allegedly Profiting From ‘Charity’ Donation Bins

How do you turn a charitable donation into a scam? Take the donated item and sell it for a profit, instead of giving it to the needy. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said his office has reached a settlement with a for-profit company accused of doing just that, by way of more than 1,100 clothing donation bins scattered throughout the New York City area.

According to Schneiderman’s office, Thrift Land USA allegedly set itself up as a charitable outfit, using logos for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rockland County and I Love Our Youth to “trick and mislead the public into believing that the clothing it collected would benefit the charity whose name and logo appeared on its bins.”

Instead, Thrift Land turned around and sold the clothing at “huge profit” and the charities featured on the bins only got a small, monthly fee for use of their name and logo.

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