Order for Girl Scout cookies was a $24,000 hoax
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Two Girl Scout troops were thrilled when a Hillsboro company ordered six thousand boxes of cookies.
But as it turns out, the order was a $24,000 hoax.
A troop parent says a co-worker approached her to set up a large corporate order with a Hillsboro company. The parent says she then exchanged many e-mails with someone claiming to be from the company. But when it was time to collect the money, she says she found out it was fake, and the co-worker confessed to the hoax.
Now, the girls have to sell the 500 cases of cookies to raise the money they need for camp.
The girls are admittedly upset. Troop parent Jennifer Reed said the troops set aside cases of cookies to fill the massive order.
“It let the girls down tremendously,” Reed said.
Most of the girls do not have enough cookie credits to go to camp. Since cookie-selling season is officially over, the troops now have to make special arrangements to try and sell enough cookies to save their summer.
“We have all these younger girls in our other troop. They were all looking forward to going to camp,” said Madalynn, a 12-year-old troop member. “Now with this, we might not be able to go to camp. We really need to be able to sell the cookies.”
You can help them out. The troops will have a cookie-selling table at the Girl Scout offices at 9620 S.W. Barbur Blvd. between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday.
You can also send an email to cookies@girlscoutsosw.org for more information on helping the troops.
You know, if I were the Girl Scouts, I'd sue the SOB that did this for both the cookies sold and the costs to send the whole frikkin' troop to camp. To discourage the anybody else who thinks this is funny, you understand...
Mind you, I personally think that the emphasis the GSA puts on cookie sales is something of a racket. Nevermind that the cookies themselves are smaller and there are fewer in the packages, they seem to rake in a lot of cash off of this. I was a Boy Scout and we sold popcorn and Scout-O-Rama tickets, but there wasn't the push to be the highest seller or anything. My troop just did it to cover costs.Â
Nevertheless, the tool that did this does deserve to get lit up for the stunt.
The person that ordered those cookies should be made to pay for them. None of this "oh gee I'm sorry" crap. They went to the effort of placing the order, warehousing the goods and then this joker want's to stiff them???? NO WAY, MAKE THEM PAY
It is obvious that these are very inattentive parents/leaders. This was the perfect opportunity to teach the important lesson of not counting on one basket of eggs. Perhaps the parents got this order and thought "Oh, now we do not need to set up in front of Walmart and I can eat a few boxes without worry..". Even with a pending order, you still teach important skills by selling as usual and, how the girls need to be prepared for such let downs. But oh no, mom doesn't want to spend her time out at the store offering cookies so we will just avoid the real purpose of teaching responsibility and let the girls know that "See? Unicorns do exist. Magic.. We wont have to sell this year. The girls and moms give a collective "Yay...".Â
THE WORST PART, it is likely they (parents and leaders) are letting the girls totally blame the prankster, and not admitting the other much bigger issue. These girls need to be told "Yes, someone pulling a prank like this is wrong, but you guys relying on that one order, instead of getting out there and raising your funds, shame on whoever was in charge here." No one likes to stand and sell cookies, but that is the lesson. Having the discipline to do a job/reach a goal.There is also the chance that someone thought "I will pre-order these, make up a sad story, and then scream publicly and say "Poor us, save these poor girls summer camp, buy these cookies at this place on this date...".  I want to know if any emails really existed. And a simple check of the mail server logs (which are kept a good long while) would reveal that. Remember folks, email is never private or secure. Ever..
As far as the joker, Employer terminates them ( I am sure this has happened already), charge with fraud or similar. Whoever was dishonest should be penalized. And if parents that played lazy? That is a whole different attempt at Journalism.  :)
Good grief people, the whole point of buying Girl Scout cookies is to support the Girl Scouts. Â The crassness of some of the posts here is astounding.
I'll bet the girls are tremendously let down. They thought they had a cash cow. They thought they were given $24,000 without having to lift a finger. Excited they could all go to camp without working for it. Well, guess that didn't work out for them. So they better get busy!
Sounds like the scam here is the alleged scam to me.
the girl scouts really need to find a new gimmick. The boxes keep getting smaller, the price keeps going up, there are tons of generic girl scout cookies for much cheaper at Safeway and Wal-mart. The only thing that sells it now is the sad look they give you when you don't keep buying over and over every time you go to the store, or that old favorite--co-worker pressure. It's just as bad as those "gift catalogs" the schools send home.
@chandler Â
Yea, try selling tickets to the Boy Scout "Jamboree" for a dollar. I'm surprised I ever sold any, the only selling point was the $1 off pizza coupon on the back. I had to walk miles to sell a book of them dang things. Now the girls scouts camp out in front of stores, or have their parents sell them for them at work.
The KATU article says "... they don't plan to press charges against the person who placed the fake order because that person apologized and the Girl Scouts didn't lose any money."
There's something not right about this story. Â
@MyTacoma If they didn't lose any money, then why were they so desperate to sell all of those cookies that they bought, and how did they pay for them in the first place?  They said a bunch of girls wouldn't go to camp if they couldn't sell them. Hmmm...
@jasmine  The Girls Scout maffia would come after the kids if they didn't sell those hydrogonated, gmo, trans-fat cookies... I dunno. Not trying to be overly cynical, but lying and cheating seems to be so prevalent these days that victimization of even the most (seemingly) innocent people can raise suspicions.  I'm just baffled by the fact that a dubious business transaction worth $24,000 occured and all is forgotten with a simple apology. At least the girls will go to camp. : )
Girl Scout cookies may be a fraud on Children. The quality has gone down and the lessons not learned. It is a shame. The honest purchasing is an agreement between a willing and knowledgeable buyer and honest, willing & knowledgeable seller. I question if that applies here.
What a ass, who does that?
So umm what about the co-worker who confessed to the hoax? What's her deal? Does she just walk away scott free? Is there a loophole because no actual money/product was exchanged therefore no actual fraud was committed??
@cm257n7 I agree, somethings weird here. I just read an update that showed lines around the corner in Portland and they have now sold ALL of the cookies. How convenient. Why would you order $24,000 worth of cookies without pre-payment? Why didn't they interview the co-worker who supposedly perpetrated the hoax to begin with and ask if they were going to be responsible for payment? Something is rotten in Denmark!
This article could very well be complete BS. Read it carefully. There is no indication that KATU confirmed that a hoax even existed in the first place. The entire article seems written off the word of one woman, with no independent verification.
Did KATU ask to see the emails? Â
What business was it? Did KATU try to figure out which business this was? Â
We don't know because that information is missing from this article. Â
@lakeview "http://www.katu.com/news/local/Hundreds-turn-out-to-buy-Girl-Scout-cookies-after-order-hoax-198622661.html"
Did you actually go and check KATU's website???Â
@cm257n7 @lakeview Since the article you linked to wasn't posted until after lakeview's comment, I'm pretty sure he didn't get the opportunity to read it. Just sayin...
If it is too good to be true it probably is!
I would have to wonder why someone in Girl Scouts didn't make an attempt to verify this large of an order rather than just take someone's word for it. Sounds like in the excitement someone just lost their good common sense. The bottom line is an order this large should have been prepaid if in fact it had been legitimate. There are some really sic people out there.
Wait, I had to pay for my cookies when I ordered them (not when I got them). Â Hmmm? Â Â
I'm skeptical.Â
@JCCBlvu That is someone doing it wrong. With Girl Scouts, we take pre-orders but we don't accept the money until we hand the cookies over. School fundraisers will ask for the money up front, but Girl Scouts don't.
Perhaps Problem Solvers could set up a donation account and money collected can buy cookies for Operation Cookie Drop.
These seems a bit fishy.
Why hasn't the troop leader contacted the police? $24,000 and at least two individuals involved on the other end sounds an awful lot like conspiracy to commit fraud. People go to prison for lesser dollar amounts. There's something fishy about this story.
@Mikeftm  what would said hoaxer possibly have to gain from this? maybe they are just out to be jerks or whatever, but surely they weren't intending to get hold of these cookies and sell 'em on the black market...
@SwampThing @Mikeftm  Are you kidding? People make up stories all the time for attention and money. People will read this, assume it's true, and want to buy their cookies or donate. Â
No idea if their claim of a hoax is true, but it doesn't appear that KATU or KOMO did anything to corroborate their claim either.Â
People need to be more careful about what they believe from local news reporting.Â
@lakeview @SwampThing The entire  attempt at Journalism, errrr.. Story (forgive me), could be a stunt.Â
@SwampThing @lakeview This one is going straight over your head. How do you know that there was a business that did this hoax? Â
The entire article is based off the words of a "troop parent."Â It does not appear that whoever wrote this article even confirmed that this business exists!
@lakeview clearly. I meant what would the hoaxer from the business that allegedly promised the $24k sale gain from this?
@Mikeftm  You have to wonder if any of this was confirmed by KATU or KOMO at all. I doubt it.Â
not a nice thing to do, if it was indeed a "hoax". like others have pointed out, nobody did due diligence to see if this was legit? just pass a few emails and *pow* $24,000? come on, adults should know better.
when is the selling period over anyway? I hate running the Gauntlet of Guilt just to get some groceries at safeway ..
Adults should know better, but judging by what my adult friends post on Facebook, I'm beginning to think many of them aren't capable of critical thinking.
Why would any adult do that? What kind of monster carries on such a complicated ruse? I hope the person who did this will face some kind of charges!
Shouldn't the coworker be facing charges? Or better yet, make them pay for the cookies. What they did has to be illegal.
Ebay is great for selling GS cookies. Heck if I was in the area, I'd buy 6 cases considering I do that every year except for these 2 years I have been living in SC. The cookies over this way (made by ABC Baker)are not as tasty as the one's made by Little Brownie Baker. I can't wait to get back up there in June.
Robinsnest, it looks like you could probably contact them via that email address above and possibly ask them if they are willing to ship. They also accept donations to send cookies to the troops overseas (at least in our area they do), that may be another possible assist for these young ladies. I would buy more, but we buy a freezer full every year and don't even eat them. They are here when our kids come to visit.
@Robinsnest Look how much people paid for twinkies, you would think they could step up and buy some girl scout cookies.
the 'hoax' could be a hoax to sell cookies
@Alikelystorey I spent almost 10 years as a girl scout leader and cookie mom. You would not believe some of the scenarios that parents and other cookie mom/dads will come up with to be able to have their child be the largest seller.
Someone should post this on reddit!! Ask for it to be upvoted to the front page. Â OH HELL here I go.
That's a long way to go for a box of cookies. Any chance they will bring a load up to Seattle?
The real crime here is that the cookies are $48 a case!
@Shawn Thomas A bit pricey but its for a good cause....
Always has to be some dumb jackass out there to pull something stupid. No doubt the KOMO viewers (or even KATU viewers) will step up and help out again. :)
@Zoso Sounds like one of the parents is a dumb jackass as well.......
@SandyBeach I can understand your suspicion and I do have some questions abut this, but when I read that the parent's co-worker is who ordered the cookies, I thought she must not knew her co-worker well enough, they are in on it together or she really is just too trusting. I wouldn't have verified any large orders through email though. That's a "walk into said business and talk directly with the owner/manager" common sense thing to do.
@SandyBeach Now why would you say a thing like that? Sounds like she was doing what a parent would do in this kind of a situation to help her kid(s).
@SandyBeach Some of you people need to understand that there's not always gonna be some conspiracy,more to the story or anything like that. Sometimes these kinds of things just happen, and there's not always gonna be something else sinister to them.
Some common sense may have helped....jus' sayin...IMO(obv more to the story)