Louisville leaders warn of fake donation bins popping up across the city

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Dozens of donation bins are popping up around Louisville, but city leaders said most of them aren't real.

Many of the illegal donation bins line Dixie Highway. Metro Councilwoman Crystal Bast said they're representing fake charities, bearing fake phone numbers and emails on the sides.

"No one knows where they came from. If you really look at them, the organization does not exist," Bast said. "We have some footage of vehicles dropping them off. They have fake license plate numbers."

For the past eight months, Metro Council have been digging into where these bins are coming from.

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Bast said they're placed in parking lots with forged permits and signatures. Though the business owners didn't give permission, they're held responsible and cited.

"It's not fair that the business had to cover the cost of something they didn't ask for," Bast said.

She also said rounding all these bins up won't be easy.

"It's going to require a lot of trucks, a lot of manpower (and) money involved," Bast said. "We have to have somewhere to store these until we figure it out."

Not only are they illegal but they're also dangerous. Bast said someone died in her district last year from climbing inside one.

She believes they could be linked to major crime rings like she's seen in other states.

"(It's) money laundering to cartel drug drops," Bast said. "They're using them for a cover to move money overseas. I'm not saying that's what these bins are being used for for sure. We're still in the early stages of finding out."

Amy Luttrell, president and CEO of Goodwill Kentucky, has her own theories of where these donations are going.

"When you put your items in one of those bins, it's going to a for-profit company that's almost certainly outside of Kentucky," she said.

Bast said fewer than 10 of the dozens of bins across the city are real. Most charities, including Goodwill, don't set these up in Louisville.

Luttrell said unlike local charities, these bins don't invest back into the community.

"We place people in jobs, " Luttrell said. "We provide a lot of other services that remove barriers and allow people to make progress in their lives."

Bast said to be on the look out for misspelled words, vague "charity" names, and fake or missing contact info before you donate. She also suggests donating directly to the following trusted local organizations: