Gravesham council has warned residents of fake charity recycling bins being used to collect clothes for commercial sale.

The council issued the warning on its social media pages yesterday and says its Environmental Enforcement team is looking into the alleged scam.

Posting on Facebook, the council stated: "Please be aware of a number of illegally placed clothes collection bins in our area.

"These are designed to look like legitimate charity collection bins and are often placed among genuine collection and recycling bins at recognised collection locations.

"It is believed these bins are being used by unscrupulous companies to collect valuable clothing for resale.

"Please be sure that your donations are placed in local authority authorised bins or those provided by registered charities.

"Bins with no company or charity details on them should be treated with suspicion.

A charity's legitimacy can be checked at https://www.gov.uk/find-charity-information."

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