The FBI says 35 additional women have been identified as potential victims of fake San Francisco 49ers player Daejeon Love. That brings the total to more than 60 alleged victims in the ongoing fraud case.
Portland FBI Special Agent in Charge Doug Olson said they believe Daejeon Love, 35, and his alleged accomplice Taylor Chan have even more victims who have not yet come forward. He urged anyone who knew anything about the two individuals to contact the Portland FBI.
“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 in 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.”
Daejeon Love posed as a San Francisco 49ers player online
In August, authorities charged Daejeon Love, who pretended to be a San Francisco 49ers wide receiver, with defrauding over two dozen women in at least four states out of more than $1.3 million. The Department of Justice reported that authorities arrested Love and Chan, 18, at a Boise, Idaho, airport. According to a federal complaint filed in Portland, Oregon, prosecutors charged the two men with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
“We don’t want anyone to be fearful of coming forward, 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,” Olson added.
Daejeon Love regularly portrayed himself as a wide receiver for the 49ers on social media. He claimed that although no NFL team selected him in the NFL Draft, he eventually made the 49ers as a free agent.
“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,” 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 a big part of it, because you have to have some source of initial income to be an investor.”
Daejeon Love allegedly chose his victims for specific reasons
Many of the claimed victims became romantically involved with Love, who stated that he wanted to build wealth and a future with them. Love then promoted fictitious investment companies, claiming they would generate huge riches for him and his victims.
In an attempt to legitimize the hoax, Daejeon Love also used phone apps to create fictitious bank and investment accounts and balances, which he presented to victims. In online interactions related to these fake investments, Chan claimed that he was Love’s investment advisor.
“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.”