Charity scam turning rags to riches

DESPITE a greater awareness among the public about bogus charities, there has been an avalanche of fake charity clothing collectors targeting Galway over the last month.In a one-week period, no less than a dozen different commercial companies delivered their leaflets around the city, claiming to be collecting for the poor overseas.However, the clothes are usually sold in poorer countries, such as Eastern European, Russia or Africa, where gangs are said to be carving a lucrative business out of the goodwill of Irish people. In other cases the goods are dumped or sold in car boot sales locally.The scam is so lucrative that children as young as eight are being used by thieves to steal bags of clothes from charity collection banks. The activity is affecting charities such as Oxfam, Barnardos and Enable Ireland, who rely on these bags to fund their services or stock to their shops.Enable Ireland discovered last December that these operators were targeting the Clybaun Rd and Knocknacarra Park areas of the city at the same time as their readily identifiable drivers were carrying...