New York's attorney general has settled with a company that falsely claimed the clothes dropped in its 1,100 donation bins were going to charity.
Eric Schneiderman said Thursday that Thrift Land USA actually sold the clothing at a large profit and that the charities whose names appeared on the bins received only a small monthly fee.
The settlement is worth $700,000. Thrift Land, of Yonkers, is paying $50,000 in penalties and costs. The company has also paid $650,000 to two nonprofits, the Westchester Community Foundation and the New York Community Trust.
The settlement also requires Thrift Land to rebrand its bins so that they do not advertise any connection to a charity.
Thrift Land's phone number was out of service.
To ensure that your clothing donations make it to a charity, rely on old standbys such as the Salvation Army and Goodwill, or research other bins by using the following sources:
