Fraudulent charity in Minnesota claims to raise funds for disabled vets

From The Star-Tribune in Minneapolis:

Janie VandenBosch's blood boils when she receives telephone solicitations from a group that calls itself the Minnesota Disabled Veterans.

The caller has offered to send her plastic bags, lightbulbs and other items in exchange for a donation. Problem is, VandenBosch works for Minnesota Disabled American Veterans (DAV) -- and her group has nothing to do with the calls.

"Sometimes I think I should just let them send me the bags so I can see who they are,'' said VandenBosch, who coordinates clothing donations to the state DAV. "But I'm also hearing about them from people who donate clothes to us. They say, 'You called us 10 times this week. What's happening?' ''

What's happening is that the Twin Cities is in the midst of a fundraising scam working its way around the nation. Nobody knows who is behind the phone calls, where they are being made and what the money is used for.

In Minnesota, a live caller or a prerecorded announcement claims to represent "Minnesota Disabled Veterans,'' confusing itself with the 89-year-old Disabled Veterans of America.

But not a penny of the money goes to the roughly 40,000 disabled veterans in Minnesota or the 2.5 million nationally, said Tim O'Connor, executive director of the DAV Department of Minnesota.

Likewise, Minnesota chapters of the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Veterans of Foreign Wars report no affiliation with the callers.

"It's disgraceful,'' said O'Connor. "You have disabled veterans, some amputees, from World War II up to Afghanistan and Iraq being taken advantage of. Our members have Purple Hearts, they've been prisoners of war.

"This farce of an organization has been in and out of different states,'' he added. "We're trying to spread the word about them.''

Minnesota Disabled Veterans is not a registered charity in Minnesota, the attorney general's office said. The office, which investigates charity fraud, said it could not reveal whether it is investigating the operation.