FBI tackles NFL impostor as dozens of women step forward to report $1.3M in losses to alleged romance and investment scam

According to court documents, Love found victims on dating sites like Tinder and wooed them, posing as a pro football player with the San Francisco 49ers — or alternatively as a wealthy Swiss real estate developer — using aliases including Jon Love, Daejon Love, Avril Lyto Love and Jordan Love.

FBI investigators say Love used artificial intelligence to create fake images of himself as a football player that he posted on social media platforms such as Instagram, along with images and videos of himself in expensive clothing and driving expensive cars.

According to the court documents, 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” — with Chan posing as Love’s investment advisor.

Court documents reveal the women not only gave Love and Chan their own money to invest, they even took out personal loans to do so.

During a news conference on Sept. 18, Portland FBI Special Agent in Charge Douglas Olson commented on the backlash against alleged victims including “jokes, mockery, commentary that unfairly targets and blames the victims in this case.”

“Victim blaming is unjust and harmful, and overlooks the calculated, highly manipulated lengths these individuals went to, to exploit and manipulate others,” he said, according to KCRA 3.

AI is a big part of that manipulation.

AI and Google can fall for AI manipulation, too

Some of the victims reportedly got suspicious and fact-checked Love’s claims online, but as Fox News reports, both AI and Google appeared to provide false facts in response. Investigators themselves typed Love’s first and last names into search engines and found false confirmations that Love did, in fact, play for the 49ers.

“He was either a player, former player, a player on injured reserve … but whatever name he was using, he’d put enough stuff into the media searches so it was the first thing that came up on people’s page,” Olson shared with The Athletic.

“And it was not just the first thing that came up. It was like, there were multiple things in there that would confirm whatever he was telling those folks.”

Investigators say the manipulation went beyond using AI. Olson said Love targeted trusting and responsible people who “believed they were building genuine relationships and legitimate financial futures,” and if women questioned Love, he simply blocked them.

The court documents add that Love and Chan would meet the alleged victims via three-way FaceTime calls to establish trust, as well as in person, flying to different cities and states — including Oregon, Washington, California and Idaho, where the two were arrested.

Since the charges were laid, more alleged victims have come forward in Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah, bringing the count to at least 61, according to The Athletic.

“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 ABC 7. “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.”