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Schuette: Organization falsely collecting donations for Michigan Humane Society

Posted at 6:42 AM, Apr 07, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-07 08:11:53-04

LANSING, Mich. – A Texas-based organization has been given a cease and desist order by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette for allegedly labeling clothing bins that said 100 percent of donations went to the Michigan Humane Society but only 6 percent did.

Schuette says the clothing bin operator, A.T.R.S. of Houston, Texas now faces 319,000 civil violations for falsely labeling more than 250 clothing bins to make people think all of the clothes were going to the humane society.

“Michigan residents deserve to know if the donation they make will have an impact,” Schuette said in a news release. “Due to the alleged deceptive marketing of this company, residents who donate to these bins across the state are lead to believe that the Michigan Humane Society is getting a large amount of their donation which is untrue and cannot be tolerated.”

Each of the 319,274 violations come with maximum penalties of $10,000 per violation. The organization now has 21 days to resolve the matter or face a civil action in court.

The alleged scam came to the attention of the Attorney General’s office while investigating another professional fundraiser Golden Recyclers which recently agreed to pay $35k for deceptively operating its clothing donation bins.

The organization operates 251 bins throughout Michigan, including Detroit, Lansing, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, and surrounding areas.