Town of North Hempstead To Crack Down On Charity Bin Scams

NORTH HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The Town of North Hempstead is attaching new labels to charity clothing bins in an effort to crack down on donation scams.

According to Shawn Brown, Deputy Commissioner for Code Enforcement, town permits distinguishing the legitimacy of the charity will be clearly placed on each approved bin, WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported.

"It's very noticeable, it's a large permit with the permit number and the township's name, the town of North Hempstead, and that means that the bin is legitimate and legal bin and that the owner of the bin is a 501C3 charitable organization," Brown said. 

The clothing donation bins are typically found in area parking lots. With clothing bin scams, organizations typically posing as nonprofit charities accept donations and then resell the clothes for profit.

Those violating the law could face fines of up to $2,000.

In October, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a $700,000 settlement with a Thrift Land USA, a Yonkers after the company claimed the clothes dropped in its 1,100 donation bins were going to charity. Schneiderman said that the company actually sold the clothing at a large profit and the charities whose names appeared on the bins received only a small monthly fee.