Greg's Corner

The Romance Scam That Fooled Google and AI

By Greg Collier

For years, romance scammers have relied on fake names, stolen photographs, and elaborate stories to convince people that they are someone they are not.

Now they have another potential weapon: artificial intelligence.

A federal case involving a man accused of pretending to be a wealthy NFL player illustrates just how dangerous that combination can become. According to newly released court documents, prosecutors say 35-year-old Daejon Labrayae Love created fake dating profiles, posed as a professional football player and wealthy real estate developer, and convinced women to give him money for investments that allegedly did not exist.

But Love apparently wasn’t just trying to fool his potential victims.

According to investigators, his carefully constructed online identity may have fooled Google and artificial intelligence systems, too.

The perfect online boyfriend

According to court documents, Love allegedly created profiles on dating apps including Hinge, Bumble, and Tinder.

He reportedly presented himself as an NFL player and, at other times, as a wealthy Swiss real estate developer.

The online persona was reinforced with social media.

Investigators say Love posted photographs and videos of himself wearing San Francisco 49ers gear, appearing to participate in professional football training, and posing alongside expensive cars.

For someone meeting him online, the evidence could look convincing.

And that was apparently the point.

Prosecutors allege that Love cultivated romantic relationships with women before eventually encouraging them to invest money in supposedly lucrative opportunities.

The alleged scheme reportedly involved an accomplice, 18-year-old Taylor Jamie Chan, whom prosecutors say Love presented as a financial adviser.

The victims weren’t simply being asked to send money to a stranger.

They were allegedly being convinced that they were dealing with a wealthy, successful man who could give them access to investments they otherwise couldn’t obtain.

That is a classic romance scam strategy with a modern makeover.

Then something very strange happened

Here’s where this case becomes particularly fascinating.

According to court documents, Love’s fake identity may have become convincing enough that search engines and AI systems sometimes repeated it as fact.

Investigators searched Love’s name in January and reportedly found results that sometimes identified him as a San Francisco 49ers player.

One image included in the court documents allegedly showed a Google search for “daejon love 49ers” displaying the 49ers’ player roster.

Investigators reportedly found similar results associated with Instagram accounts believed to be controlled by Love.

The court documents state that his false social media representations apparently caused search engines and AI to occasionally identify him as a legitimate 49ers player.

That’s an extraordinary development.

A scammer didn’t necessarily need to convince every potential victim that his story was true.

He could point to the internet itself.

“Just Google me”

Imagine you’re talking to someone you met on a dating app.

He tells you he’s a professional athlete.

You’re skeptical.

So you do what virtually everyone does these days.

You Google him.

And the search results appear to confirm what he’s telling you.

Suddenly your skepticism disappears.

This is why this case should concern anyone who uses the internet to meet people, make investments, or verify someone’s identity.

We’ve traditionally been told to research people online before trusting them.

But what happens when the person you’re researching has deliberately manipulated the information that search engines and AI systems see?

The existence of search results doesn’t necessarily mean those results are evidence.

A photograph doesn’t prove someone’s identity.

A social media account doesn’t prove someone’s occupation.

And an AI chatbot confidently repeating something doesn’t magically turn it into a fact.

Fake money makes the story even more convincing

The alleged scheme apparently went beyond creating a fake football career.

According to prosecutors, Love also used applications capable of creating fictitious bank and investment account balances.

Investigators allege that he showed victims fake balances to make them believe he was extraordinarily wealthy.

In one instance described in the court documents, Love allegedly claimed to have more than $30 million in a bank and investment account.

Think about how powerful that could be in a romance scam.

The victim isn’t simply being told, “Trust me, I’m rich.”

She’s being shown what appears to be evidence.

There is a balance on the screen.

There are social media photographs.

There are football pictures.

There are search results.

There may be an entire digital history apparently confirming the person’s story.

Except none of it necessarily means what it appears to mean.

The internet can create an illusion of credibility

This is an important lesson for anyone who thinks they can avoid scams simply by doing a quick Google search.

Scammers understand that people use the internet to verify information.

So they can attempt to manufacture information for the internet to find.

That can include fake social media profiles, fabricated websites, manipulated photographs, fake business listings, and phony financial information.

AI potentially makes this problem even more complicated because criminals can use it to create convincing text, photographs, voices, and videos at a speed that would have been difficult or impossible a few years ago.

The Love case, as described in the court documents, demonstrates another troubling possibility: the fake information can potentially feed back into search and AI systems and make the fraudulent identity appear even more legitimate.

The scammer creates the lie.

The internet repeats the lie.

The victim searches for the lie.

The search results appear to confirm the lie.

And the scammer gets exactly what he wanted.

Romance scams aren’t really about romance

The emotional manipulation is what makes these scams so effective.

A romance scammer doesn’t necessarily begin by asking for money.

They may spend weeks or months building a relationship.

They learn what their target wants to hear. They establish trust. They create a sense of intimacy.

Then comes the financial emergency or investment opportunity.

Suddenly the relationship has a price tag.

And because the victim believes they know and trust the person, the request doesn’t feel like a financial transaction with a stranger.

It feels like helping someone they love.

That is why victims can lose enormous amounts of money before realizing what happened.

Don’t let the internet do your thinking for you

The lesson from this case isn’t that Google or AI is deliberately helping scammers.

The court documents themselves describe the search engines and AI as apparently being fooled by the false online representations.

The lesson is that online information has to be independently verified.

If someone claims to be a professional athlete, don’t rely solely on their social media account or a search result.

If someone claims to be wealthy, don’t rely on screenshots of bank balances.

If someone you met online wants you to invest money, don’t assume the investment is legitimate because they appear successful.

And if someone you’ve never met in person asks you to send money, that should be an enormous warning sign regardless of how convincing their online identity appears.

The fake person may be everywhere

Perhaps the most disturbing part of this story is that the alleged scammer didn’t just create one fake identity.

According to court documents, investigators said Love used multiple aliases, including Jordan Love, Jon Love, Daejon Love, and Avril Lyto Love.

Prosecutors allege that Love and Chan were arrested at Boise Airport and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. Their first court appearance was scheduled for September in Portland.

The FBI also believes there could be additional victims.

That possibility should serve as a warning to anyone who has encountered a suspicious online romantic partner claiming to be an athlete, investor, wealthy businessman, or other high-status individual.

The most convincing scammer isn’t necessarily the person with the best story.

It may be the person who has figured out how to make the internet appear to tell the same story.

And in an age when scammers can manufacture photographs, identities, financial records, and even apparently authoritative online information, “I Googled them” is no longer enough.

Sometimes, the scammer has already Googled themselves.