GARDEN GROVE – Well-wishers dug deep into their wallets Sunday to help a Garden Grove family victimized by counterfeiters during a yard sale aimed at raising funds to cure epilepsy.

“It was a blessing,” Annie Murray said. “It’s nice to know some good came out of a bad deed.”

She and her husband, Eric Murray, held the second annual fundraiser at their home in the 6000 block of Amy Avenue to benefit the Walk to End Epilepsy on Nov. 22 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

The walk is sponsored by the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Los Angeles.

The Murrays use money from the yard sale in honor of their 4-year-old son, Finn, who has epilepsy, a brain disorder that causes seizures.

Annie Murray said she advertised the sale on Craigslist, indicating that profits would go to charity.

Around 6:15 a.m. Sunday, as she was setting up for the sale, a black four-door compact car with Illinois license plates pulled up in front of her house.

Two men and two women got out of the car and began looking at items on the lawn that were for sale, Murray said.

“One woman kept asking for costume jewelry,” she recalled. “I told her I didn’t have any. They took their time shopping. Something felt a little off.”

One man bought a couple of pairs of rain boots with an authentic $5 bill while a woman used some spare change to purchase three shirts.

After about 30 minutes, the group gathered up a bunch of items, including clothing, purses, diapers and a toy riding horse. They quickly loaded the goods into their car while one of the men paid for them.

Murray said she haggled with the man over the price before reluctantly agreeing to $40.

The man slipped her what at first looked like two $20 bills and quickly jumped into the car before driving off.

“The moment the bills hit my hand I knew they weren’t real,” she said. “The front and back of the bills didn’t match up. The printing was crooked. I looked up and they were driving away.”

Realizing that she had been swindled, Murray publicized her plight Sunday morning on Facebook. Within 40 minutes, shoppers began showing up, many of whom gave cash donations and paid above the sale price for many items.

A lemonade stand operated by Murray’s 7-year-old daughter, Darby, also did booming business.

Murray said she’s disappointed to have been swindled but happy that the yard sale was an overall success

“We were trying to do good,” she said. “You try to have faith in humankind. We greatly appreciated people that stepped forward to help a great cause that’s so close to our hearts.”

It is distressing that counterfeiters would take advantage of the generosity of the Murray family, said Susan Pietsch-Escueta, executive director of the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Los Angeles.

“It makes you stop and think,” she said Monday. “On the same day some people are out there trying to scam and cheat other people, there are so many more people who are out there trying to make a difference. That someone could want to hinder that effort or steal from them is just so heartbreaking.”

Epilepsy affects more than 160,000 people in the greater Los Angeles area, Pietsch-Escueta said.

Murray said she contacted Garden Grove police, who determined that the $20 bills are, indeed, fake. Police also confirmed to the Register on Monday that they are looking into the incident.

Anyone with information about the counterfeiters should contact Garden Grove police at 714-741-5700.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7767 sschwebke@ocregister.com Twitter: @thechalkoutline