MESA, Ariz. — Everyone has a favorite girl scout cookie. But what would you do to get them? One man seemed to think that scamming a Valley troop was the way to go.
Troop 2175 in Mesa has been waking up early every weekend to sell cookies. This week, they had to deal with the fallout of a counterfeit bill.
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“I like selling girl scout cookies and talking to new people.,” Athena McGrath said.
McGrath, Raelynn and Coralee Mayer all started two years ago when they were six. They've sold about 500 boxes so far this season.
A few days ago they once again set up their stand with the Mayer's mom, Teri. She said one of their first customers of the day was a man who wanted to buy about eight boxes of cookies.
“He was very friendly, very nice," Teri said.
She said the man asked if he could by with a $100 bill. Teri said she had the $60 change so it would be fine.
“It’s always really busy at a booth so I just glanced at it and put it away,” she said.
The man walked away with the change and cookies. The girls continued to sell. Then when the Mayer's got home Teri took another look at that bill and noticed it didn't look right.
"The color on the backside was off and the picture was blurred,” Teri said.
She took it to the bank and was told the bill was a fake. The girls, understandably, were sad and disappointed.
“I was hoping he didn’t give it to us on purpose,” Coralee said.
“I couldn't believe it," said Michell Weber, McGrath's grandmother. "Somebody would actually purposely default the girl scouts.”
That lost money would have to come from their own pockets. That is until word of what happened spread and the people of Mesa came together to help.
“We got a lot of people that stepped up and were like, 'we’ll take care of it we want to give it to you, the girls shouldn’t have to suffer,' so it really renewed that faith in community,” Teri said.
People buying more boxes and even making cash donations to the troop.
“We have an amazing community here and everybody just comes together and that’s why we love living here,” Weber said.
There were some changes made. Teri said she purchased a marker to identify fraudulent bills and they will no longer take bills more than 20 bucks.
Troop 2175 was also incredibly thankful with the generosity. With just about a week left of selling cookies, they said they are ready to get back out there.
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