There are catfish scams.

There are investment scams.

And then there is apparently the decision to combine romance scams, fake investments, luxury cars, the San Francisco 49ers and a suspicious amount of confidence.

Federal prosecutors say 35-year-old Daejon Labrayae Love allegedly spent years pretending to be a professional football player — specifically, a San Francisco 49ers wide receiver — while convincing women that he was wealthy, successful and interested in building a future with them.

The problem?

He wasn’t a 49ers player.

And according to the U.S. Department of Justice, the alleged scheme brought in approximately $1.3 million from at least 26 victims.

Love and 18-year-old Taylor Jamie Chan have been charged in federal court in Oregon with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. Because these are criminal complaints, the allegations remain allegations unless proven in court.

But the details of the alleged scheme sound less like a football career and more like someone created an entire cinematic universe around a guy who apparently never made the roster.

Step One: Become a 49ers Wide Receiver

According to federal prosecutors, Love created elaborate social-media personas designed to make him look like a legitimate professional athlete.

His Instagram allegedly portrayed him as an NFL wide receiver who had gone undrafted but worked his way onto the 49ers roster.

There were pictures in 49ers gear.

There were expensive cars.

There were football videos.

There were even posts designed to make it appear that he had connections to legitimate NFL players.

Basically, he allegedly built an entire NFL career without having to worry about the annoying part where you actually have to make an NFL roster.

And prosecutors say the fake identity was convincing enough that search engines and artificial-intelligence tools sometimes incorrectly identified him as a legitimate 49ers player.

At one point, Love reportedly posted a screenshot of an AI-generated Google result identifying him as a 49ers wide receiver.

His alleged response?

“That’s Google. That’s not me.”

That might be the most aggressively unhelpful fact-check in internet history.

Then Came the Romance

According to the DOJ, Love met most of the women through dating apps and developed romantic relationships with many of them.

The alleged pitch wasn’t simply:

“Hey, I’m an NFL player.”

It was much more elaborate.

Prosecutors say Love presented himself as a wealthy businessman and investor who could help his romantic partners build wealth.

And once he had established that trust, another character entered the story.

That was where Chan allegedly came in.

Chan allegedly posed as Love’s financial adviser, helping create the appearance that Love was a legitimate investor with serious financial connections.

So essentially, the alleged operation had its own fake football player and fake financial adviser.

Most people struggle to get one person to Venmo them back for lunch.

These guys allegedly created an entire fake financial institution.

The Fake Bank Accounts Were Apparently Wild

Here’s where the alleged scheme gets particularly elaborate.

According to federal prosecutors, Love and Chan used phone applications to create fake bank and investment accounts and display bogus account balances to their victims.

In at least one reported instance, those fake accounts allegedly showed balances exceeding $30 million.

The pair allegedly also staged three-way FaceTime calls in which Chan, pretending to be Love’s financial adviser, would discuss investments and show supposed investment gains.

The goal was to convince victims that the money they were sending wasn’t disappearing.

It was supposedly being invested.

Except prosecutors say it wasn’t.

And Then the Loans Started

According to the DOJ, some victims didn’t have enough money available to invest.

That apparently wasn’t going to stop the alleged scheme.

Prosecutors say Love encouraged some women to take out personal loans, assuring them that the money would be repaid quickly.

Victims allegedly sent money through services including Apple Pay, Venmo and other payment platforms.

And according to federal investigators, the victims weren’t getting investment returns.

They weren’t getting their principal back.

They weren’t even getting legitimate investment account information.

The DOJ says none of the identified victims who were interviewed reported receiving proceeds or returns on the money they sent.

The 49ers Were Never Actually Involved

This is perhaps the most important part of the entire story.

Federal investigators contacted representatives of the San Francisco 49ers.

The team confirmed that Love had no connection to the 49ers or the NFL.

So all those jerseys, football videos, luxury cars and alleged NFL connections weren’t evidence of an actual NFL career.

They were allegedly part of the persona.

And Love reportedly used several names during the scheme, including Jon Love, Daejon Love, Avril Lyto Love and Jordan Love.

Yes, Jordan Love.

As in the actual Green Bay Packers quarterback.

Apparently one fake NFL identity wasn’t enough.

The Money Allegedly Funded the Lifestyle

So where did the approximately $1.3 million allegedly go?

According to investigators, some of the money was used to support a lavish lifestyle.

That reportedly included hotel stays and shopping at luxury retailers such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Versace.

In other words, the alleged investment strategy appears to have been:

Victim sends money → Love gets money → Love spends money.

It’s not exactly Warren Buffett’s playbook.

The FBI Finally Caught Up

The alleged scheme reportedly began in February 2022 and continued until the pair’s arrests on August 24, 2026.

The FBI identified at least 26 victims across California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

But investigators believe there could be more.

Love and Chan were arrested at Boise Airport after Chan flew from California to Idaho to meet Love.

According to the DOJ, investigators learned Love was in Idaho to meet additional potential victims.

That’s one heck of a final road trip.

Unfortunately for Love, there was no fourth quarter comeback.

The Bigger Lesson

The wildest part of this story isn’t even the fake 49ers career.

It’s how many layers the alleged scheme contained.

Love allegedly created a fake professional-athlete identity.

He allegedly created fake wealth.

He allegedly created fake investment opportunities.

Chan allegedly played the role of a fake financial adviser.

They allegedly created fake account balances.

They allegedly staged fake investment gains.

And prosecutors say the pair used romantic relationships to gain the victims’ trust.

That’s a lot of work.

At some point, getting a real job might actually have been easier.

But there’s also a serious lesson here.

The FBI says the investigation has identified at least 26 victims and believes there may be additional people who have not yet come forward.

The fact that someone can build a convincing social-media presence — complete with sports credentials, luxury cars and supposed financial success — doesn’t mean any of it is real.

Especially when the person’s NFL career apparently consists entirely of Instagram posts.

For now, Love and Chan are facing federal charges, and they are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

But if the allegations are proven, this may go down as one of the strangest alleged romance scams in sports history:

A fake NFL receiver, a fake financial adviser, fake millions in the bank and real women allegedly losing real money.

The only thing missing was a fake Super Bowl ring.