by An 11-year-old Washington boy lost all his money to a scammer who gave him a fake $100 bill at a lemonade stand, police said.
The pre-teen, identified only as Jeremy, set up the stand in the far north Seattle suburb of Everett, cops said. A man approached the stand and offered to pay with a $100 bill, but only if he received $85 in exact change.
Jeremy provided the money, but when he tried to use the $100 bill at a gas station, the employees told him it was fake, according to police.
“While our detectives work hard to bring closure to every case, this case struck a particular chord with them, and they want to do everything they can to get justice for Jeremy and catch this counterfeiter,” Everett police wrote in a Facebook post.
But a friend of Jeremy’s parents came to the rescue too, setting up a GoFundMe that raised more than $5,000 by Friday night. Its initial goal was only $250.
“These donations for Jeremy continue to blow me away!” organizer Amy Steenfott wrote Friday. “Thank you all so very much! It sounds like Jeremy will be open for business again this Saturday for anyone who would like to support him in person.”
