FBI case against fake 49ers player adds more alleged victims
The FBI has identified 35 additional women who say they were defrauded by Daejon Love and Taylor Chan, the agency said Friday, bringing the total number of alleged victims in a case that included Love impersonating as a San Francisco 49ers player to more than 60.
Portland FBI Special Agent in Charge Doug Olson said the agency is working to verify that the 35 women are victims of Love and Chan.
"We were surprised how many people were victimized in such a short period of time and then to have that many more come forward," Olson said at a news conference. "It's a large volume for just a couple of subjects. Our concern is that this fraud could be replicated by other individuals that are out there victimizing other people in similar schemes."
Olson said the FBI believes there are more victims of Love and Chan who have yet to come forward. He encouraged anyone with information on the two men to contact the Portland FBI.
"We don't want anyone to be fearful of coming forward," Olson said, "certainly not for fear of embarrassment or anything like that, because we want to help them and we want to make sure that this doesn't happen to anybody else."
The FBI opened its investigation into Love and Chan on Sept. 30, 2024, over allegations that date from February 2022 to Aug. 24, 2026, the day the two men were arrested at the Boise, Idaho, airport. They have been charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
According to the criminal complaint, Love and Chan stole more than $1.3 million from 26 known victims in at least four states. The complaint alleges that Love, 35, used social media and dating apps to build fake identities, including posing as a 49ers player and a wealthy Swiss real estate investor, and persuade women to send him money. It says Chan, 18, sometimes posed as his financial adviser and assisted Love in convincing the women that Love would invest their money with Chan.
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"The victims in this case were targeted precisely because they were trusting, responsible people who they believed were building genuine relationships and legitimate financial futures," Olson said. "... They were deliberately manipulated through an extremely sophisticated scheme that blended fake personas, fabricated investment accounts, staged video calls and AI-reinforced false identities."
Olson said the fraud scheme was "bespoke" to each victim. Not every woman got the Niners player persona, but Olson said Love often relied on the professional athlete character to reinforce his income level.
"He was either a player, former player, a player on injured reserve, and 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 [Google] page," Olson said. "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 like a big part of it because you have to have some source of initial income to be an investor."
A Niners team source told ESPN that the club was not aware of Love and had not received any reports about him before it was contacted by the FBI in August.
"They were completely cooperative," Olson said of the 49ers. "They were very helpful in doing things that most people think are probably pretty simple, but it's not always that easy to confirm. Like, this person was, like, never an employee, never a player, not even ever in the NFL. They were able to help with a lot of that stuff."
