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So, they were completely cooperative throughout the entire investigation." In response to a question about one victim allegedly taking out a restraining order against Love, Olson said investigators have uncovered allegations of violence in the case, though he stopped short of calling it a pattern because it's "not widespread across all of the victims." Asked about Chan's involvement and his young age, Olson said he couldn't get into Chan's exact role in the scheme or whether he was aware of the full extent of it, but said that he helped Love bolster financial documents to establish credibility with victims, and added that in general these sorts of fraud schemes tend to use a second person to help make the other person's fake persona appear more convincing. They also used AI to help build out the fake personas and were also able to fool search engines and automated verification systems. "Social media may be making light of this case, but behind the headlines are real people who are suffering devastating financial losses, emotional trauma, and in some instances, emerging indicators of physical harm or distress," he said. "The perpetrators relied on romance, trust, and the appearance of credibility to exploit victims, demonstrating how modern fraud schemes can weaponize technology, social media, and personal relationships." The case came together "pretty quickly," he added, in part because the alleged fraudsters often created online content like fake social media posts, dating app profiles or search engine listings to bolster Love's NFL player persona, some of which were tailored to convince individual targets, and so FBI investigators were later able to follow that "digital exhaust" trail to find the victims. "He was either a player, a former player, a player on injured reserve, and you could Google his name — and he used multiple names, 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, and it was not just the first thing that came up," he said. Since then, another 35 women have come forward, FBI Special Agent Doug Olson announced at a news conference Friday, though he clarified that the FBI has spoken to all of them but is still working to verify that they were all victims of the same scheme. "Victims were encouraged to take out personal loans and make life-altering financial decisions based on the belief they were building a future with someone they cared about," he said. "Once the money was taken, the victims were cut off, left without answers, without funds, and often without closure.

