"Where Africa Comes to Stay Informed."
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"Where Africa Comes to Stay Informed."
Another 35 women have contacted the FBI about a man they say posed as a San Francisco 49ers player on dating apps and took their money. Should those accounts check out, the total number of alleged victims would rise above 60.
Douglas Olson, the Special Agent in Charge in Portland, gave the updated figure on Friday. Agents are still verifying whether all 35 were approached by the same two men, and the bureau expects more people to surface. Olson said investigators were “surprised how many people were victimized in such a short period of time.”
The two men accused of running the scheme are Daejon Love, 35, and Taylor Chan, 18. Agents took both into custody on August 24 at the airport in Boise, Idaho, and each faces charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud — a federal offense covering money-taking schemes carried out by phone, internet or other electronic means. Neither has been convicted.
Federal prosecutors in Oregon say Love found most of the women through dating apps, portraying himself as wealthy — sometimes as a 49ers player, other times as a real estate investor with money behind him. In many cases, prosecutors say, he moved the conversation toward romance and a shared future.
The financial pitch followed. Investments that did not exist were dangled with promises of large returns for the two of them, according to prosecutors, with Chan playing the role of Love's financial adviser, the man supposedly turning Love's holdings into tens of millions. Group FaceTime calls were allegedly staged to display fictitious gains, and phone apps were used to fabricate bank and investment balances.
No money ever came back. Prosecutors say not one of the women interviewed saw a return or received account details. When a woman's funds ran dry or her questions got sharper, Love allegedly cut her off and kept whatever she had handed over.
The criminal complaint puts the haul at more than $1.3 million taken from 26 identified victims across at least four states between February 2022 and the arrests. Washington and Oregon account for many of the women. The FBI's investigation began in September 2024.
The fake athlete identity was propped up digitally. According to the FBI, Love relied on AI-enhanced images to lend credibility to his personas and manipulated Google results so that a quick search turned up nothing alarming. Posts on X also alleged that Google's AI Overview described him as a 49ers wide receiver.
No allegations have been made against the 49ers organization itself, and Olson said the club cooperated fully with the investigation.
Olson's read on the targeting is that the women were trusting and responsible, and genuinely believed both the relationships and the financial plans were real. Anyone meeting someone online, he advised, should “verify with other real people and individuals, not just on the internet.” The bureau wants anyone who thinks they were caught up in the scheme to get in touch.
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