For more than four years, women who say they were romantically involved with a man presenting himself as a wealthy San Francisco 49ers player or real-estate investor posted warnings, filed consumer complaints and contacted police. They described being blocked after sending money, feeling ashamed and seeing little official action. This week, federal prosecutors charged Daejon Labrayae Love, 35, and Taylor Jamie Chan, 18, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, alleging the pair took about $1.3 million from at least 26 women across California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon said the scheme began in February 2022. Love met most of the women on dating apps, developed romantic relationships and portrayed himself as an undrafted wide receiver who had made the 49ers roster or as a Swiss-connected real-estate investor. He posted photos and videos in team gear, posed with luxury vehicles and, according to court documents, used aliases including Jon Love, Avril Lyto Love and Jordan Love. Chan posed as Love’s financial adviser, joining three-way calls that displayed purported investment gains. Some women were encouraged to take out personal loans. None of the interviewed victims reported receiving returns or repayment, prosecutors said. Love allegedly cut off contact once money stopped or questions increased.
Love and Chan were arrested Aug. 24 at Boise Airport. Investigators said Love had been traveling through several Western states and was in Idaho to meet new potential victims. The FBI believes additional victims exist and has asked anyone with information to contact tips.fbi.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI.
A Better Business Bureau Scam Tracker report filed May 18, 2023, described a woman in the San Jose, California, area who said she met a man identified as Daejon Love. After they spent time together, he asked her to send money to his “bodyguard.” She sent $5,000 total — $4,000 via a friend’s Zelle account and $1,000 from her own. He was supposed to repay her and pick her up. Instead, she said, he blocked her. She provided receipts and conversations and later contacted the number used for the transfers; that person also blocked her. The report listed a San Jose location, an Instagram account and the phone number (718) 864-6722.
That report circulated again this week after X user @FatiTheDream posted a thread linking it to a Reddit post and calling the pattern “icky.” The user wrote that a search for older victim reports led first to Reddit and then to the 2023 BBB filing. The thread drew thousands of likes and quotes as news of the federal charges spread.
On Reddit’s r/Scams and r/49ers, a poster using similar language described being scammed “recently” by a man who claimed to play for the 49ers, carried a helmet, flaunted a lavish lifestyle and used fake investment sites. The writer said she lost a large sum, felt afraid of “the power he has,” did not know lawyers who would take the case pro bono, and knew of FBI complaints even as the man remained active in California and Oregon. She said he pressured her for money and sex, lied about his age and blocked her after she asked for repayment. She added that she was ashamed but “not alone” and that he targeted women in their early 20s on dating apps.
Comments under that post included other women saying “me too,” that they recognized the first-name initial and that an Instagram page existed to expose him. Some offered to share videos, messages and pictures and asked how to organize. One commenter suggested a possible location in Vancouver, Washington. The posts illustrate how victims tried to warn others and find each other when they felt official channels had not stopped the activity.
Court documents filed with the criminal complaint note that victims had reported the scheme to multiple police departments in Oregon and California, yet Love and Chan were not prosecuted on the investment-related conduct until the federal case. That gap — years of individual reports, public consumer filings and social-media warnings without an apparent halt to the alleged operation — is what many of the women described as leaving them powerless.
Prosecutors said Love constructed an elaborate persona. Instagram stories and videos showed him with a 49ers helmet, discussing an “NFL journey,” name-dropping players such as Tyreek Hill and Antonio Brown, and displaying screenshots of large purported account balances. In one clip cited in reporting, he referred to a Google result confirming the 49ers connection and said, “That’s Google, not me.” The NFL and the 49ers told investigators he had never been employed by either organization.
Some victims sent relatively modest sums; others went much further. Court filings, which identify victims by initials, describe one woman who sent $10,000 and then took out a $31,000 loan. Another, identified as A.T., helped lease a McLaren after Love presented a falsified payroll document; she later paid $30,000 to break the lease and lost a total of $87,500, according to the affidavit. Other examples include Apple Pay and Western Union transfers totaling $18,000 and a $15,000 cash investment for which a watch later believed to be counterfeit was offered as collateral.
Love also allegedly used the name Jordan Love in at least one instance and claimed family wealth tied to Switzerland and luxury brands. Financial analysis cited in the affidavit found no identifiable legitimate income matching the lifestyle presented to victims.
Romance-and-investment frauds that begin on dating apps are a recognized category of consumer crime. Victims often describe a period of intense attention followed by a request framed as an opportunity to build a shared future. Shame, fear of not being believed and the difficulty of proving a relationship that existed largely online can deter reporting. When reports are filed and the activity continues, later victims can feel the earlier warnings changed nothing.
Love and Chan remain in federal custody. They have been charged, not convicted. The case is in its early stages in the District of Oregon. The FBI continues to seek additional victims.
For women who posted in 2023 or later that they had already lost money, contacted police and still saw the same man operating, the federal announcement arrived after years of feeling that individual complaints were not enough. Their public posts — the BBB filing, the Reddit threads, the X conversation that resurfaced them — now sit alongside the charging documents as a record of how long some of them say they waited.
