TAKING donations left outside a charity shop is easy, but doing so is a crime.

Joyce Rieck volunteers her time at the Goodwill Op Shop at Rosewood.

It’s a shop operated by the Rosewood Uniting church.

“When one of our volunteers went down Tuesday of last week, there was somebody sorting through the donations and putting them into the boot of his car,” she said.

“Thankfully our volunteer had her husband in the car with her, when he saw them, he closed the [car] boot and took off.”

Queensland Police Service remind community members taking items that have been donated and left outside of charity shops is a stealing offence.

Once goods are left at the store, it then becomes property of the charity.

A police spokesperson said many charity shops had CCTV cameras set up and while these identify good Samaritans donating items, they also capture offenders stealing items.