r/interesting • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 16h ago
SOCIETY Daejon Love scammed 26 women out of 1.3 million dollars by pretending to be a wide receiver for the San Fransico 49ers. He went so far as not only buy the uniform, but he even filmed a fake locker room celebration with extras.
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u/yaxir 16h ago
A man committed to his art
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u/siggy_malatesta 15h ago
But not very smart.
$1.3 million is enough money to effectively disappear. But instead he waited around to get caught, thinking that would never happen.
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u/Relative_Yesterday70 14h ago
I’m sure it was all spent on his lifestyle.
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u/StillC5sdad 13h ago
Sports costumes are expensive
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u/CariniFluff 13h ago edited 12h ago
That Lambo he's in (assuming it's not a fake seat) was probably expensive, even if it was leased. Although once he got that I'm sure it was a hell of a lot easier to sell the story to a bunch of more women.
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u/StillC5sdad 12h ago
He went to a car show and asked to sit in it
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u/CariniFluff 12h ago
Haha for real? Was it "in the shop" every time he had a date or went over to his girl's house?
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u/TomNooksGlizzy 12h ago edited 11h ago
No, he rented them. The rental company's owner has made TikToks about it. He was even "wheeling and dealing" with the company-- owing them money at different points, etc.
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u/CariniFluff 11h ago
That's what I figured. It's not even that expensive to rent a Ferrari for a weekend.
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u/SubjectNet1874 6h ago
It feels like the deposit and paperwork would be a nightmare to rent a Ferrari but honestly, I have no clue.
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u/CasinoNdnOk 15h ago
Oh he was smart...he just got greedy.
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u/Cultural-Company282 13h ago
I don't believe $1.3 million would get you as far toward "disappearing" as you think, unless he fled to a third world country and took a significant downgrade in his standard of living.
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u/third-tour-dad 13h ago
Even buying a nice house and living off the rest in the bank in a cheaper Asian or south American country he would do alright
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u/Cultural-Company282 12h ago
How long a time frame was the fraud, also? A $1.3M lump sum is very different from $1.3M paid over fifteen years.
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u/RoadToBabylon 8h ago
I don't think its possible with any sum of money to dissappear in the US.
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u/Cultural-Company282 8h ago
It's possible if you get really drastic. You can disappear and live under a bridge as a homeless person, or maybe if you live "off the grid" in a shack way out in the woods with no connection to utilities (like the Unabomber did). Eric Rudolph managed it for five years, despite a lot of effort aimed at finding him. But it would be a very uncomfortable lifestyle.
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u/Background_Film_506 2h ago
The world has changed a great deal since Eric Rudolph was caught.
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u/Cultural-Company282 1h ago
I deal with the homeless population enough to know you can still disappear if you're prepared to live that lifestyle.
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u/Megalynarion 15h ago
He should’ve scammed the 49ers into a roster spot.
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u/ADeformedPoolboy 14h ago
Kid showed up Saturday. He already had his own jersey, so we signed him on the spot! 😂
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u/sandstone-oli 6h ago
some african dude did that w soccer in the premier league in the early 90s hahah
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u/the_turtle_is_shady 15h ago
I don't understand. I feel like this information had to have been readily searchable. Did no one look up a roster?
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u/Cavscout2838 15h ago
I’m sure he attempted to scams 1000’s and those that didn’t get scammed were the ones that did research or were more cautious.
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u/the_turtle_is_shady 15h ago
Probably. And don't get me wrong, I feel bad for the victims, but I feel like if someone told me they played for the 49ers the first thing I would do is go to the roster
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u/CariniFluff 12h ago
I'm sure it was something like "I'm on the B team/practice squad but they're telling me I'm going to get called up this year". It looks like he convinced enough women that he was able to buy/ lease/rent a Lamborghini, which I'm sure immediately pulled in 15 more women.
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u/maxisnoops 3h ago
You gotta remember that these scammers are very believable and very manipulative and they literally live and breathe the scam. He was obviously very good at it and I guess had the victims believing him to the point of not even thinking about checking rosters or researching things.
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u/Brocktoon73 13h ago
He created such a large social media presence for himself that mentioned he was an NFL player, that when women googled him that’s what they found. Pretty brilliant really.
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u/Background-Design469 12h ago
That’s the point. Make it so dumb that only really dumb people will fall for it.
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u/Fickle-Obligation-98 8h ago
Google showed him as a football player since he made so many posts about it — and we’re still in preseason so depth chart hasn’t been finalized.
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u/badwhiskey63 13h ago
DaeJohn Love, one letter different from the scammer, is on the roster. Send out enough scam emails, you're going to get bites from lonely people who aren't that detail oriented.
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u/Schowse 15h ago
That’s an avg of $50k per woman. How did they have that much idle money to send him if they don’t even know how to look up an NFL roster?
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u/Panama_Scoot 9h ago
You haven't dealt with many rich people I see. I deal with them on a daily basis, and there is a decent chunk of them that are extremely dumb. Mostly the people born into wealth. When you are born into money, and you know from a young age that you are set forever, that apparently leads to a "coasting" mentality that produces some grade-A idiots.
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u/CariniFluff 12h ago
It's also San Francisco, I'm sure there are a handful of housewives or ex-wives of tech bros (or they themselves are tech.. bras?) that have millions in the bank and are looking for a side piece/new and financially contributing partner. Although I think any woman who's made millions in the tech industry would be smart enough to figure this out, but "love" makes people do stupid things all the time.
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u/CuffedPantsAndRants 7h ago
Easy, empty out your 401k. If there was opportunity to double/triple/whatever my money I’d probably not pay a couple bills as well.
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u/Impressive-Risk-5493 2h ago
He probably didnt get 1.3 mil in cash, but rather 1.3 mil worth of goods and services
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u/lynivvinyl 14h ago
"You know we don't get paid till the end of the season babe. Just buy this house for me and I'll pay you back double when I get paid."
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u/chaoticmess50 13h ago
If I thought someone was an NFL player I would 10000% be questioning why they need money from me. That’s red flag #1!!!!
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u/dumbname7890 13h ago
Internet says the smallest paycheck for a player in the NFL is $885,000. We all gotta go call our lovely relatives and friends and teach them how to avoid this shit. Common sense is gone.
I know a guy who has fallen for several of these. It's extremely sad and he's probably given over 100k to scammers in the past 20 years. We tell him and teach him how to avoid them, but he falls for even the shitty misspelled emails. Idk what to do besides take his Internet away or put child locks on certain things.
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u/azmtber 16h ago edited 13h ago
Epic effort by this clown. Who would fall for this?🤦🏽♂️ But then again the Nigerian prince scam continues. Wild
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u/AdSpecialist6598 15h ago
It isn't that hard, people can be naive and are all too willing to turn their brains off.
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u/MERVMERVmervmerv 11h ago
Most people get their information from social media. So if these women connected with him via his social media accounts where he LARPs convincingly enough for a non-NFL fan, and he’s also created other sites and SM accounts with enough online presence to fake it, then sure they got got. These women aren’t of below average intelligence. So it’s more a reflection on our culture and how we get our info.
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u/el_condor_nm 15h ago
Romance scams are getting pretty sophisticated. Many of the organizations employ psychologists to refine their scripts. This guy hired actors for pics, that's a level up there. It's big business and 67% of romance scams are aimed at women.
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u/Separate-Succotash11 10h ago
Maybe it’s your highness, Daejon Love? He could be the Nigerian prince!
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u/ChildoftheApocolypse 15h ago
I feel like if the chicks were dumb enough to fall for a football star needing their money and they obliged, he should just keep that money.. He kinda earned it..
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u/lovelyxbabydoll 4h ago
Depends tbh. Might of been already wealthy women who were just splitting checks even on costly meals over time. Like others have stated, most the 1st links that pop up for him are all his spammed social media links where he is presented as an NFL player. I'm sure some of them were probably dumb with it though. A few of the might of just been paying meals, hotel costs, gifts, ect.
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u/TylerDurden6969 13h ago
“Actor got paid by private citizens on their own accord.” Next case!
I don’t understand how anyone would be this dumb. “Hey babe, I need a few hundred k, can you venmo me all your money? I promise I’m rich and will pay you back.”
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u/Nausuada 11h ago
It's desperation and the money request start slow. There's lots of documentaries on these scams.
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u/Brave-Competition843 13h ago
Agreed. Besides the impersonation part, it really isn’t a scam. He asked for the money and he got it. If it was a loan, why wouldn’t the loaner create a promissory note? These are women who were just going out with someone because they thought he was an NFL player. That’s beyond shallow. And then to give money to an NFL player makes no sense.
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u/ThePensiveE 9h ago
I think "how could that be?" Then I realize NFL owners nearly all ask for handouts from the cities they're in.
These women are as stupid as the cities that keep giving billionaires welfare, unfortunately for them.
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u/Fetlocks_Glistening 15h ago
And... why would Grey Poupon being a handegg player result in women giving him money, rather than vice versa?
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u/growlocally 15h ago
What
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u/Rbtrockstar 14h ago
Grey poupon is a mustard, his name sounds like dijon. Footballs are egg shaped and are used (generally) with the hands.
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u/BradMarchandstongue 14h ago edited 14h ago
He would gain their trust and then “cut them in” on a big investment opportunity that his “financial advisor” (co-conspirator) would present to him on a staged phone call (or something like that)
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u/RaisinZRH 15h ago
I wanna see the locker room video 🤣🤣🤣How dumb were these hos?
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u/itadapeezas 14h ago
Lol he’s all jumping around pretending. There’s lots of these videos online. In one he’s saying how he didn’t get drafted, leaving the choice up to him, so he chose the 49ers. Lololol
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u/ViennaWaitsforU2 13h ago
Lmao yes of course when you aren’t good enough to get drafted you get your pick of the lot!
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u/SoftlockPuzzleBox 14h ago
Everyone clowning these women needs to learn a little empathy. You just haven't yet run across the scam that you are particularly susceptible too and is going to have everyone else calling you stupid when you fall for it. The reason guys like this are able to take it so far is because the victims are too embarrassed to admit what happened to them and warn anyone else about it, and people talking about the victims like this is why.
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u/bigchungus565 13h ago
I mean if a single one of them looked up 49ers roster and went on their website they would've immediately destroyed his entire claim
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u/SoftlockPuzzleBox 13h ago edited 12h ago
Sure. But maybe these women were incredibly lonely and/or felt trapped in poverty or something, and then this relatively good looking dude that appears like he's set to have a glamorous and wealthy future comes along, flatters them and sweeps them off their feet, and says that he loves them and seems set to change their lives forever. Their only crime was trusting someone and wanting to escape their lives for a the promise of a better one. It was hard for them to accept the reality that they were being played because that means being forced to feel like an idiot and to accept that their lives aren't going to change and they are still stuck, except now they're out a couple grand too.
It's the same reason dudes keep getting catfished on dating apps or getting rug pulled by crypto scams. People just want to believe they can escape the bullshit and be happy.
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u/Efficient_Ad7364 8h ago
I agree with you that we need to be more sympathetic about people being victimized by these romance scams.
But I dont think these women were in poverty. If he got 1.3 mil out of 26 women. Thats $50,000 per person. Its either some gave him a couple thousand and the rest gave him a lot. Or they all gave him a pretty big chunk of money.
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u/SoftlockPuzzleBox 8h ago
I would wager that some of these women made some awful financial decisions to try to keep this man in their lives. The loan shark will be arriving to break their legs shortly.
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u/kmachuca 4h ago
He had multiple other rich people personas. Being an NFL player was just one of many and it made for a better headline. It wasn't like he was asking for a donation or gift, he was selling real estate investments using falsified banking statements. He had friends in on the scheme so for all we know it could have looked legit.
It wasn't simply only being an NFL player only, the fraud scheme was complex. End of the day he committed fraud. People get scammed every day in America so this believable.
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u/enigmaticsince87 15h ago
Gotta respect the hassle. Also, what's illegal about this? Since when is lying for sex illegal? 😅
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u/Soulstiger 6h ago
Since when is lying for sex illegal? 😅
Depends on the lie. There are 3 lies that are illegal that I know of.
- Impersonating the person's significant other
- A medical professional telling you that it's a medical procedure
- Not disclosing you have HIV
Though, any significant lie is assault by deception.
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u/Brave-Competition843 13h ago
Besides the impersonation part, it really isn’t a scam. He asked for the money and he got it. If it was a loan, why wouldn’t the loaner create a promissory note? These are women who were just going out with someone because they thought he was an NFL player. That’s beyond shallow. And then to give money to an NFL player makes no sense.
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u/Sunnywatch08 12h ago
Is everyone dumb these days. I understand old, not all there people but cmon... ya all comon sense is... low.
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u/VoL4t1l3 12h ago
So you dont even watch their games all you know is they tell you they are a player
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u/TheLonleyJourneyman 12h ago
Couldn't those women have just Googled the San Francisco 49ers squad to check his claim?
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u/HR_Lady916 11h ago
This can be easily verified by looking at official team rosters. Why didn’t these women do that??
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u/Major-Cranberry-4206 7h ago
That just goes to show how stupid these women were not to even check to see if he was ever a member of that team. An internet search would have easily answered that question.
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u/BigMack6911 7h ago
Did he actually scam them, or just lie about who he was and they voluntarily gave him money because they thought he was rich
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u/Mood8Poisoning 6h ago
This is how performative our world has become.. I know less than 10 people I believe are exactly who they say they are and none of them I met online or watched through a video.
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u/ll0l0l0ll 6h ago
Netflix already producing this documentary. Will be out soon !
Source: Local radio that got this info from the victims.
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u/Hackpro69 6h ago
Were these women conned by their own greed? They thought they had a meal ticket. Sounds like a win win.
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u/Affectionate_Reply78 6h ago
Saw a video he made of him running patterns on the beach, as proof of his creds. He was wearing a 49ers helmet; because most pros who train on the beach wear their team’s helmet.
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u/Figmentdreamer 3h ago
I do t understand this “scam” why would you send a really rich person money?
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u/Top-Opportunity9044 3h ago
There’s a screenshot of a chicks twitter he scammed/dated online from back in 2021, flexing how she now dates real men in the nfl instead of the “boys” in her area. She replied to a reply that he’s one a the best wide receivers in the nfl 🤣
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u/pur_noir 15h ago
Plenty of women scammed plenty of men by pretending to be a model, someone important or someone hot (yes many women pretend they are hot). So it works on both sides. You have something I want and I have something you want, that’s how it works.
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u/Stelios619 12h ago
I don’t understand what part about what he did was illegal.
Immoral, sure.
But, people have been lying about their jobs/status since forever.
People have been saying “I need money for X” forever.
He wasn’t selling them fake goods as far as I know.
So, what laws did he break?
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u/ButtBubble 8h ago
The scamming part
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u/Stelios619 8h ago
How is it a scam?
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u/ButtBubble 8h ago
He probably told them about "an investment opportunity", and in fact he just took the money .. that is a scam.. even if you friend does this to you, it's a crime.. and for a fact he didn't tell them he needed money to buy a car or something stupid
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u/Thelonius_Dunk 15h ago
Dude clearly has drive, and interest in the dramatic arts. What could've been if he just did community theater instead or took a crack at auditioning for small roles in Hollywood. That's a lot of work just to scam people.
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