Eden Prairie swim school swindled out of $1.3M in email scam

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — According to a warrant obtained by WCCO, the Foss Swim School was swindled out of $1.3 million in February.

The search warrant states that unknown actors infiltrated the swim school’s email server, where they responded to an email intended for the founder about how he would like his tax distributions paid.  

The scammers forwarded along deposit instructions to the swim school’s AP Clerk. Between Feb. 17 and Feb. 21, the clerk sent four payments ranging in $29,500 to $127,500 to the scammers. 

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Then, the scammers told the clerk that they needed more money for a new building in Burnsville, requesting additional funds to go towards construction costs. The clerk fulfilled this request between Feb. 21 and Feb 23, sending two separate payments of $800,000 and $288,244.46. 

The warrant later states that the school’s IT department discovered an email that the unknown actors had sent from the founder’s email saying, ”Brother, I enter the Box and see as everything dey go. I pray she makes the payment. I don leave the Box for you but if everything works out, Do the needful. I dey wait for your reply.”

A day later, the recipient replied to the email sent from the founder’s account saying, “Bless up my bro you be man drop ur lCQ for me mine @godwill101.”

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A search warrant of JP Morgan Chase account records showed that the money stolen from Foss Swim School where it was deposited into a bank account, where it was later transferred to a Chase account then wired to Metropolitan Commercial Bank.  

The email scam remains under investigation. 

WCCO Staff

The WCCO Staff is a group of experienced journalists who bring you the content on WCCO.com.