The Federal Bureau of Investigation has identified a further 35 women who said they were victims of alleged fraud by Daejon Love, the 35-year-old who has been accused of defrauding roughly $1.3 million from various people by posing as a San Francisco 49ers player.
As reported by the Athletic, Portland FBI Special Agent in Charge Doug Olson revealed in a media call on Friday (Sept. 18) that authorities have identified 35 more potential victims of fraud. The FBI is still working on verifying if the women who have come forward have credible ties to Love, who has been accused of using various dating apps while pretending to be an NFL wide receiver.
The FBI reported that Love and his alleged co-conspirator, 18-year-old Taylor Chan, spent approximately four years convincing victims to send him money or invest with him. They are both facing charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
“He was either a player, former player, a player on injured reserve, … but whatever name he was using, he’d put enough stuff into the media searches so it was the first thing that came up on people’s page,” said Olson, who noted that his scam managed to trick various AI tools and search results into hallucinating he was actually an NFL player. “And it was not just the first thing that came up; it was like, there were multiple things in there that would confirm whatever he was telling those folks. … The sports thing was always a big part of it, because you have to have some source of initial income to be an investor.”
The 35 potential victims noted by Olson are in addition to the 26 women across California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho that the FBI alleged were victims when the news broke earlier this year. In addition to posing as a successful 49ers player, Love was also accused of presenting himself as a real estate investor, and had allegedly built romantic relationships with some of his victims.
Love’s co-conspirator allegedly played the role of his financial advisor. They were both arrested at an airport in Boise, Idaho, last month
