Federal investigators say a fraud scheme built around a man posing as a San Francisco 49ers player has claimed far more victims than first believed, with the count now standing at 61 people rather than the 26 originally suspected.
FBI Special Agent Douglas A. Olson announced the updated figure at a news conference on Friday, saying the bureau was caught off guard by how quickly the number grew once more people came forward.
“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, according to ESPN. “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.”
The scheme is alleged to have run from February 2022 until last month, when Daejon Love, 35, and his 18-year-old accomplice Taylor Chan were arrested. According to a federal criminal complaint, Love pretended to be a 49ers player and offered to help women invest their money. Chan then posed as Love’s financial advisor. Once the women sent money, prosecutors say, the pair cut off contact.
Investigators allege Love and Chan took a combined $1.3 million from their victims through the scheme.
“The women didn’t just fall for something obvious,” Olson said Friday, according to The Oregonian, “they were deliberately targeted by people who worked very hard to earn that trust and steal their money.”
Olson said the FBI believes additional victims may still be out there and urged anyone who was deceived by Love and Chan to come forward.
“We don’t want anyone to be fearful of coming forward,” Olson said, “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.”
Love and Chan each face one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Court filings show each charge carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison if they are convicted.
