The FBI arrested Daejon Labrayae Love and Taylor Jamie Chan on Monday in connection with a more than $1.3 million romance scam that investigators say stretched across four years and involved 26 victims.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Oregon, Love allegedly posed as an active San Francisco 49ers wide receiver while targeting women through dating apps and social media. Court documents say he used aliases and fake financial documents to help sell the false identity.
How the alleged scam worked
The alleged scheme began in February 2022, when Love and Chan are said to have started contacting victims online. Authorities say Love presented himself as a player for the 49ers and backed up that claim with social media posts and forged documents.
The government says that false online presence created additional credibility. Prosecutors said some victims became suspicious and searched for Love’s information on the internet, but search results and artificial intelligence tools sometimes reinforced the lie because of the fake social media material.
In January 2026, investigators entered Love’s first and last name into search engines and found that results sometimes depicted him as a 49ers player, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Oregon.
Why the case matters
The allegations go beyond a simple impersonation. Authorities say the scheme involved dozens of women, more than $1.3 million in losses, and an effort to use the NFL name and the 49ers brand as part of the fraud.
The NFL and the 49ers told authorities that Love had no connection to the team. Court documents also say Love spent over $1,160 at Green Gridiron, a website specializing in custom football helmets, another detail prosecutors say fit the fake athlete image he was trying to project.
Love faces one count of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. For now, the arrest is the key development, but the broader case shows how quickly a fabricated sports identity can spread online and make a scam harder to spot.
