An order for 6,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies turned out to be a half-baked hoax, leaving the troops holding the boxes, KATU News reported.

Two Oregon Girl Scout troops were given an order for 6,000 boxes of the trademark cookies, an order totaling $24,000, by a company in Hillsboro.

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According to KATU, a parent of one of the scouts said a co-worker approached her to set up a large corporate account. Then, the parent exchanged emails with someone claiming to be from the company.

But when it came time to pay up, that’s when the whole scheme crumbled.

The parent learned the order was a fake, leaving the troops with 6,000 boxes of unsold cookies and ruining their chances to earn enough to attend summer camp and to aid the homeless.

But as word got around about how the scouts had been burned, people decided to chip in, showing up at the Girl Scout offices in Portland to buy cookies to help the girls. As of Saturday night, 3,000 boxes from the fake sale had been sold.

“I’ve been a Girl Scout for 23 years,” Girl Scout spokeswoman Sarah Miller told KATU. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Girl Scout cookies are not for sale after March 10, but the troops got together for Saturday’s sale to try to make up some of the loss. The troops will have another sale next Saturday.

Click for the full story from KATU News.