Woman says she saw through alleged 49ers fraudster's claims: "Too good to be true"

Ayana Velasquez met Daejon Love, the man federal authorities allege posed as an NFL player and real estate investor to defraud over two dozen women of $1.3 million, through a dating app nearly five years ago. 

"When I met him in 2021, he portrayed that he wanted to be with me, wanted to give me kids, wanted to give me a house," Velasquez told CBS News on Monday. They went on one date together. 

At the time, Velasquez said Love went by "Jonathan," and that she did not learn his real name until she saw his picture in a news article. 

"When I saw his face, I said, 'Oh my god, that's Jonathan Love,' or whatever his name is … It took me by surprise," Velasquez said.

Love, 35, and an alleged accomplice, 18-year-old Taylor Jamie Chan, were arrested by the FBI on Aug. 24 and each charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon. 

Federal prosecutors say the two men allegedly defrauded 26 women out of over $1 million, with Love falsely portraying himself as "legitimately wealthy" and convincing women "... that they were in sincere romantic relationships with him."

CBS News has reached out to Love for comment. It wasn't immediately clear if he or Chan had lawyers representing them.

Velasquez said Love boasted about his family's wealth, claiming they were "one of the richest families in Switzerland" and owned property in the United States.

Velasquez grew skeptical of Love's claims and said she eventually stopped responding to him.

"I remember him saying he had a private chef," Velasquez recalled. "But I'm like, it must just be a friend because there's no way."

The two fell out of touch until 2024, when Velasquez said Love reached back out through a voice memo to her phone to tell her he was "in the NFL now."

"It just seemed too good to be true," Velasquez said she thought at the time.

Velasquez said Love sent her more than a dozen photos and videos portraying himself as a player for the San Francisco 49ers. One appeared to show Love's point of view walking on the field at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, where the 49ers play. Another appeared to be a video of him filming a group of fans waving at him through the window of a bus. 

Velasquez said she checked the metadata of some of the footage to verify when and where it was taken.

"Once I saved those into my camera roll, they said that they were screen recorded," Velasquez said. "So I was like, oh, that's definitely not any of his."

After the realization that Love likely did not record the footage himself, Velasquez said she "instantly" blocked him. "I'm not going to be entertaining this for my own good," she recalled thinking.

Federal prosecutors allege Love convinced many of his victims they were in sincere romantic relationships and encouraged them to loan him large amounts of money. Chan allegedly pretended to be Love's investment adviser, and Love would introduce women to him. The pair would allegedly urge women to send them money, even suggesting some take out large loans, telling them Chan would put it in lucrative investments, federal prosecutors said.

While Velasquez did not fall for the scam, she said she could understand why other women might have believed Love.

"But at the same time, if he says that he's an NFL player, you could have looked him up on the roster to see that he's not there," she said.

Lance Leising, a retired FBI supervisory special agent, told CBS News that scammers prey on victims' trust. "When you have that emotional trust built in to that relationship, it's much easier to get the scam, whether it's posing as an NFL player or showing on social media all the expensive things you have, it's simply building that trust," he said.