A man accused in federal court records of falsely claiming to be an accomplished NFL wide receiver as a ploy to defraud women out of more than a million dollars appears to have filmed some of his social media videos in San Diego, many of which have gone viral and been widely ridiculed in memes.
Read more Help sought to find person who shot woman at party in Casa de Oro
Daejon Labrayae Love, 35, allegedly built a narrative on social media that he played for the San Francisco 49ers, drove luxury cars and lived a lavish lifestyle, according to a complaint filed in federal court in Oregon.
A video posted online reportedly under Love’s Instagram handle shows him running in the sand — shirtless, wearing a 49ers helmet — catching passes at Mission Beach, with The Plunge at Belmont Park in the background. The clip has been widely shared online and turned into countless memes.
Another video shows him working out at Fit Mission Beach on the rooftop gym.
His Instagram account has since been made private.
Love and an alleged accomplice, Taylor Jamie Chan, 18, were arrested at the Boise Airport in Idaho on Aug. 24 and have been charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to prosecutors. They are expected to make initial appearances in Portland federal court this week.
Prosecutors said they have identified at least 26 women who were scammed in Oregon, Washington and California from at least February 2022 until at least March 2026. Officials would not specify where in California the alleged victims lived. Some women reported being scammed to police departments in California and Oregon, according to the complaint.
The investigation showed Love regularly stayed at hotels and Airbnbs on the West Coast, prosecutors said. They did not specify where.
A video obtained by TMZ appears to show Love telling a woman that he owns homes in Del Mar and El Cajon.
In another video posted online, Love says that he owns homes in Coronado and Point Loma and that he frequently trains at the beach. “San Diego is beautiful, really, really nice,” he says.
“Love met most of the victims through online dating platforms such as Tinder, Bumble, Hinge and Facebook Dating,” the criminal complaint reads. “Love developed romantic relationships with many of the victims and told them he wanted to settle down and build wealth with them by investing together.”
Read more Tens of thousands in Spain protest Ceuta border crisis
The complaint states that Love allegedly convinced victims they were in a sincere romantic relationship, advertised fake investments and then asked them for money that he said would generate massive returns. Chan was introduced to the women as his financial advisor, according to the complaint.
“Love falsely told some of his victims that he was a wealthy 49ers player to encourage them to invest in Love and Chan’s scheme,” the complaint reads. “To convince his victims, Love posted misleading photographs, videos, and statements on his social media accounts.” He also allegedly told some women that he was a real estate investor from Switzerland, prosecutors said.
“Love falsely claimed that since he began investing with Chan, Love increased his net worth from $300,000 to $17 million in a matter of a few years,” the complaint reads. “Love claimed to some victims that since he had large investments with Chan, Chan would agree to invest the victims’ money using the same fictitious ‘algorithm’ that Chan used to invest Love’s money.”
In at least one instance, Love claimed to have a bank and investment account balance of more than $30 million, according to the complaint.
In total, Love and Chan allegedly received about $1.3 million from investors, money they never intended to pay back, according to prosecutors.
The FBI said that there are likely many more victims. Prosecutors said he also used aliases Jon Love, Avril Lyto Love and Jordan Love.
According to the complaint, Love’s curated social media even fooled artificial intelligence sites, with a quick search of the internet yielding AI results showing him as a “bona fide 49ers player.” However, the current 49ers 53-man roster on the team’s official website does not show him as an active player. Rosters listed on other websites never show him as a player throughout the team’s history.
Representatives of the 49ers and NFL confirmed to investigators that he never worked for either organization, the complaint states.
Read more Trump administration backs OpenAI in New York Times’ copyright case over training of chatbots
Staff photojournalist Meg McLaughlin contributed to this report.
