Girl Scout Sachi Saunt was thrilled when a woman stopped by her cookie stand Sunday outside a Redondo Beach grocery store and said she wanted to buy eight boxes.
That would help bring the 14-year-old closer to her sales goal of about 60 boxes. Sachi was happy to accept the $100 bill and give the woman 60 bucks in change, especially after she said she planned to buy more boxes after shopping at the Inglewood Avenue store.
"She came out 30 minutes later and only bought two other boxes and gave us a different 100 dollar bill," Sachi said.
That was when I said, 'Can I see those two bills, please?' And, I could tell there was something fishy with them.
Tammy Saunt, mother
The Scouts counted out $90 in change, pleased to have what they thought were two $100 bills in hand.
"That was when I said, 'Can I see those two bills, please?' And, I could tell there was something fishy with them," said mother Tammy Saunt
Call it a mother's intuition, but Saunt was right to be suspicious. When the family went to the bank, the bills were confiscated.
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Police later confirmed the bills were counterfeit.
"We pretty much just lost the money," Saunt said of the $150 in change the scouts handed over to the the swindler.
The cookie sale money was going to be used for a trip to San Francisco for Sachi's troop.
"I'm shocked someone would do this to the Girl Scouts," said Sachi. "It's just innocent girls trying to sell cookies."
Store security cameras captured images of the woman, who was with a dog on a green leash. Witnesses said the woman seemed to be missing several teeth.
