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Karin Kahler
multiple authors
The FBI has identified 35 more women who say they were defrauded by Daejon Love and Taylor Chan, the FBI said on Friday, bringing the total number of victims in cases including Love’s impersonation of a San Francisco 49ers player to more than 60.
Portland FBI Special Agent in Charge Doug Olson said the agency is working to verify whether the 35 women were victims of Love and Chen.
“We are surprised that so many people were victimized in such a short period of time and then so many more came forward,” Olson said in a news release. “That’s a significant number for several subjects. Our concern is that this fraud could be replicated by others to harm others in similar schemes.”
Olson said the FBI believes there are more victims of Love and Chen who have yet to come forward. He encouraged anyone with information about the two men to contact the Portland FBI.
“We don’t want anyone to be afraid to come forward, certainly not for fear of embarrassment or anything like that, because we want to help them and we want to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else,” Olson said.
The FBI began investigating Love and Chan on September 30, 2024, and the investigation lasted from February 2022 to August 24, 2026, the day the two were arrested at the Boise, Idaho, airport. They were 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 indictment alleges that Love, 35, used social media and dating apps to create false identities, including impersonating a 49ers player and a wealthy Swiss real estate investor, and persuaded women to send him money. Chen, 18, allegedly sometimes posed as his financial adviser and assisted Love in convincing him that they would invest their money with Chen.
“The victims in this case were targeted precisely because they were trusting, responsible individuals whom they believed were building genuine relationships and legitimate financial futures,” Olson said. “…They were deliberately manipulated through an extremely sophisticated scheme that blended false identities with fake personas, fake investment accounts, enhanced video calls and artificial intelligence.”
Olson said the fraud scheme was “customized” for each victim. Not every woman has a Niners role, but Olson said Love often relied on his role as a professional athlete to boost his income levels.
“He’s either a player or an ex-player or a player on injured reserve, whatever name he goes by, he’s going to throw enough into the media search that that’s the first thing people think of.” [Google] “Page,” Olson said. “It’s not just the first thing that comes up; it’s like there’s a lot of things out there that corroborate everything he’s telling those guys…Sports stuff is always a big part of it because you have to have some initial revenue stream to be an investor.”
A Niners source told ESPN that the club was unaware of Love and had not received any reports about him before the FBI contacted the club in August.
“They’re totally cooperative,” Olson said of the 49ers. “They’re very helpful in doing things that most people think are probably very simple, but aren’t always easy to verify. Like, this person has never been an employee, has never been a player, has never even worked in the NFL. They’re able to help with a lot of things.”