A false sense of trust

I am a mostly honest person, and I think I have gotten more-so the older I get. WYSIWYG. For example, this one time the Dude and I were on vacation in New Mexico, and the sensible sedan rental car we had reserved were all checked out. So we were upgraded to a Ford Mustang. Convertible. Cherry Red. Very nice! We loved driving around in that thing, and on one of our day trips, we stopped at a drive thru place for some lunch, and the girl at the window said, "Wow, nice car!" and I said, "Thanks, it's a rental." See? Honest. (Dude gives me shit about that all the time. If I over-share something I could have been more suave about he just says, "Thanks! It's a rental!")
I'm also a very trusting person. So, when there was a co-op organized on the mommy-board I read, I joined in for my 50% off Pedipeds. Paid through PayPal, back in Feb- order was on it's way-all good. The woman who organized everything has been a member of the board forever (this is a board I've read for ~5 years or so) and I certainly felt like I "knew" her. She claimed that Pedipeds was overwhelmed with our large order and it was going to take a couple of weeks. You see where this is going don't you? Yep, here it is a month later, and no shoes. Some of the other women were getting worried, and were no longer buying her shipping excuses so they checked with the company. Turns out, she did place the order, but she never sent payment. Instead she transferred all those paypal payments to her bank account and spent it. She says it was "accidentally" overdrawn, and that she will refund everyone, but altogether it was about $2000 and I doubt I am going to see my $33 ever again.
It really makes me sad- partly because I really wanted those adorable yet totally worthless baby shoes, and partly because I guess I was really duped. I want to believe that her intentions were good and she just focked up, but it's really not looking that way.
And as if that weren't enough, since this all went down, the company is now refusing to do any more co-ops ever again, anywhere, with anyone. So she's ruined the game for us all. *sigh* It's hard to remember that the internets are not as safe as they appear.