D-1 Bound Recruiting Twitter account permanently suspended following investigation

Last year’s Bishop Sycamore scandal certainly wasn’t the first of its kind and certainly won’t be the last, but it did shine a national light on one of the many ways that the high-stakes world of high school football recruiting can also be a hotbed for scammers. One alleged scammer who bilked parents and athletes out of tens of thousands of dollars under the guise of recruiting assistance appears to have lost their best avenue for doing so now that Twitter has banned them following a USA Today investigation.

USA Today Sports recently published a report on D-1 Bound Recruiting, an entity that claimed to assist high school and junior college athletes in attaining scholarship offers from colleges. They were able to identify 18 parents and recruits who sent money to D-1 Bound under the assumption that paying for their services would give them a recruiting advantage or inroad that wouldn’t have otherwise been possible. In total, these people paid almost $33,000 over the last four years, receiving very little, if anything, in return.

“It’s almost like a little kid finding out there’s no Santa Claus, to find out that you just gave away your entire summer savings to a grown-ass man, ripping kids off,” said Mimi de Ville, whose son sent $1,700 to a “Coach Hines” at D-1 Bound in 2020. “This dirtbag is getting rich, sitting on his couch with a laptop.”

The entity’s Twitter account, which had been active since 2015 and had gained over 38,000 followers, was permanently banned after the report for violating its financial scam policy, which prohibits users from creating accounts, posting tweets or sending direct messages “that solicit engagement in … fraudulent schemes.”

“We have permanently suspended several accounts referenced in the article for violations of the Twitter Rules,” a Twitter spokesperson told USA Today Sports.

The account had already been locked and rebranded as a private recruiting service after they were contacted by USA Today Sports last month. Twitter also banned @D1BoundOfficial, a secondary account associated with the service.

USA Today also seemingly uncovered the person behind the recruiting scam. After noting that D-1 was previously known as “Slept On Recruiting,” they were able to link a business account to former Georgia State football player Krysten Hammon (who left the team after his freshman season following a suspension), who was also associated with several of the phone numbers linked to D-1. While Hammon didn’t reply to their request for comment, Twitter clearly saw the link between the two entities and suspended both his original Twitter account from his football days as well as another account associated with him, @Hammon_409, for violating its ban evasion policy.

D-1 Bound’s website is still live, offering three recruiting packages, ranging from the $1,000 Starter Package to the $5,000 Supreme Package.

[USA Today]