On Tinder, a man posed as an NFL star and stole $1.3 million from women
On Tinder, a man posed as an NFL star and stole $1.3 million from women
You have probably heard at least once about Simon Leviev, the famous "Tinder Swindler" who posed as a billionaire heir and deceived dozens of women. Now, a rival of his has emerged: in recent days, the internet has started talking about Dejon Love, who tricked 26 girls.
He is 35 years old and has never played for either the San Francisco 49ers or the National Football League (NFL).
Love began using his scheme around February 2022. He met women through dating apps (which is why he earned the nickname of the new "Tinder Swindler") and introduced himself as a professional athlete. The correspondence soon took on a romantic tone, and Love gradually began to get closer to his goal. As the relationships grew closer, he claimed to have lucrative investments and suggested they invest money. In some cases, the women even took out loans.
Meanwhile, Dejon's accomplice was 18-year-old Taylor Chan. She introduced herself as the "player's" financial advisor, helping to convince the victims that her boss had plenty of money and that the investments would indeed yield profits. Once the girls sent the money, the suspects withdrew and misappropriated it. Initially, they promised them profits to encourage them to invest even more. If the victims started asking too many questions, Love simply blocked them.
As expected, none of them received any return on their investment, which is why the girls went to court. Investigators also suspect that the number of victims could be much higher.
Love himself was active on social media, posting daily about his "athletic life." Dejon posed in 49ers gear, worked out, took photos next to expensive cars and houses, and showed off his new watches worth thousands of dollars.
It reached a point where Google's neural network began to recognize him as a real player. The system mistakenly identified him as a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers, displaying supposedly existing information about his position, contract, and connections with the team. This played right into the criminal's hands: when the girls grew suspicious and started searching for information about their new lover, the search engine's AI assistant would give them a definitive answer that Dejon indeed played for the club.
However, Dejon's social media pages have now been deleted, and he himself has been arrested. He and Chan are charged with conspiracy and grand theft, crimes for which each of them could face up to 4 years in prison.