Girl Scout troop scammed with fake $100 for cookies

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - A Charlotte Girl Scout troop is out nearly $100 after they say a man handed them a counterfeit bill in exchange for cookies.

Troop 2897 tells WBTV they were selling cookies outside of a Mattress Firm location in the Carolina Pavilion when a man approached them asking to purchase two boxes.

They say he pulled out a $100 bill and asked if they could make change for the large bill.

"I said wow, a 100 for two boxes of cookies? And he was like, yeah, that's all I got," Troop treasurer Debbie Ruffert said.

The troop obliged and gave the man a box of cookies and $92 in cash.

But it wasn't until Ruffert went to the bank the next day to deposit their earnings that the teller told her the bill was a fake.

"She started looking at it really close and looking at the light and looking at it really close and it seemed to be a real $100 bill," Ruffert said.

Ruffert says she was blown away that someone would take advantage of such a giving group of girls.

"I was like, do you mean to tell me we just lost $100, the girls lost $100? And she said, yeah, I'm afraid so," Ruffert said.

"It is an unfortunate situation that someone would take advantage of our Girl Scouts," Girl Scouts CEO Angela Woods said. "The cookie program is a fundraiser that supports our girls and we would hope that local citizens would uphold the same standards we expect of our scouts: honesty, fairness and character."

The troop was saving for a trip to Savannah. Luckily, the Hornets Nest Council isn't going to deduct the $100 from their earnings.

"I hope the gentleman that did that, if he knowingly did it, I hope that he needed it more than us. Because if he didn't, I sure think that was a horrible thing to do," troop dad Jason Buzzard said.

A report has been filed with the Department of Homeland Security.

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