Hundreds of people bought more than 3,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies from Portland Girl Scouts on Saturday -- half of an order worth $24,000 that turned out to be an expensive prank.

"We try to teach them through the cookie program business skills," said Sarah Miller, director of communications for Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington. "This was a really tough lesson regarding business ethics. But this outpouring of support from the community, they'll carry that with them forever."

Last week two sister troops of Brownies, second and third graders, and Juniors and Cadettes, fourth grade and older, learned an order for 6,000 boxes of cookies was fraudulent.

The order was placed via email, from an address belonging to an acquaintance of a troop leader. They exchanged multiple emails over several weeks, Miller said, and the troops' products manager reserved the thousands of boxes before cookie selling season ended March 10.

But the emailer turned out to be a girl who used her mother's e-mail address to pull the prank.

"It wasn't necessarily malicious," Miller said. "The person just didn't understand the magnitude of their choice."

Cookie sales

Portland Girl Scouts will try to sell the remaining 3,000 or so boxes of cookies Saturday, March 23, at the council headquarters,

, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cookies are $4 each.

You can also place an email order at

.

Girl Scouts use money from cookie sales to finance activities. The order would have been massive; Girl Scouts in the Oregon and Southwest Washington region sell on average 175 boxes each per season, Miller said. The sister troops combined have about 20 girls, so sell approximately 3,500 boxes each season.

The council wouldn't saddle a troop with a $24,000 loss, Miller said, so it scheduled two Saturdays of special sales at its headquarters, 9620 S.W. Barbur Blvd.

More than half the fraudulent order sold this Saturday. Sales will continue Saturday, March 23, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

"The girls were so excited," Miller said. "They were really overwhelmed by how caring the community is."

- Sara Hottman