A Dearborn based company that collects donations for the needy has been told to stop by the state attorney general.
The order comes after an investigation found the operation has been violating the law.
The attorney general has issued a consumer alert to avoid the donation bins. We found they appear to be operating in the shadows.
It is virtually impossible to find who runs the operation.
We visited the address the attorney general’s office gave us for the operator of Golden Recyclers.
A woman at the door didn’t speak English and turned us away.
The fundraiser operates more than 300 donation bins throughout Michigan. But turns out, the attorney general says what they are doing is illegal.
They’ve been slapped with over 2,000 violations of charity law. The company has been keeping the donated items.
At Dearborn’s Goodwill donation drop we found charity givers who say they are now warned and will stick to known drop offs like Goodwill’s.
It’s unclear what the company has been doing with the donated items. Receipts show they have benefited in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
We’ve also learned this same scheme is being investigated in nearby Ohio and other states.
