PLANTATION, Fla. – Army veteran Andy Rubenstein is a proud of his service to his country. So when he walked out of his neighborhood Publix grocery store and saw a uniformed man raising funds for the Veterans Support Organization, he stopped to talk to him.
"Immediately, I think that he's fake because of the fact that I was asking him just some standard questions about the military ... he just wouldn't answer any of those questions," Rubenstein said.
Rubenstein took out his phone and started filming his interaction with the man. The man, who is not identified on camera, tries to ignore him and his questions. Eventually, a van pulls up and takes away the solicitor and his table, making Rubenstein even more suspicious.
"If they were legit, then they would have stayed and they probably would have called the police on me," Rubenstein said.
Upon further investigation, Local 10 News found out that the Veterans Support Organization is a legitimate nonprofit. According to its tax records online, it raises millions of funds each year mainly from public donations. The organization has come under scrutiny in the past for how much of those millions actually trickle down to veterans.
"Publix does have a procedure in place to verify the nonprofit status of organizations requesting to solicit outside of our stores," Publix spokeswoman Nicole Krauss said in a statement. "This organization is a nonprofit and we are looking into the matter further."
Calls to the Veterans Support Organization were not returned.
Rubenstein said he is not convinced that they are who they say.
"It's all about exploiting the veterans," Rubenstein said.
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