FRAUD WARNING

It has come to our attention that third parties impersonating members, staff or employees of the New York Red Bulls are illegally using the New York Red Bulls Brand to commit fraud, especially on the internet, via e-mail and on social media. These fraudsters are contacting players, coaches and agents seeking to convince them to take a particular course of action in order to join or trial with our club – a request for payment of money is almost always involved.

To protect yourself, please be aware of the following:

  • We never charge a prospective player or his agent a fee, or direct that a payment be made to a third party, in order to trial with our club. 
  • We never charge a prospective coach a fee (such as an application fee) to apply for employment with our club.
  • We rarely contact a prospective player directly to schedule a trial with our club. Unless the prospective player is not represented by an agent, we will contact the player’s agent to gauge the player’s interest in trialing with our club and we always obtain the consent of the player’s current team (if any) before speaking with the player or his agent to formalize the details of the trial. 
  • We never hold open tryouts.
  • We never send e-mails from a public email account, e.g., Hotmail, Gmail, etc.
  • We never use social media (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.) to recruit players or coaches.
  • At this time, we do not endorse, require or recommend that a prospective player, his agent or a coach use or work with any particular sports or travel agency.

Do not be the victim of a scam. If the offer seems too good to be true, it probably is. You should be on the lookout for the following:

  • Know our team: The names of most of the members of our Sporting Department are listed on our website (www.newyorkredbulls.com/club/technical-staff). If you are contacted by someone who is not listed on our website about playing or coaching for, or trialing with, our club, the communication may not be legitimate.   
  • Check the email address: Every email from a representative of our club will be sent from a valid New York Red Bulls email address. If you are contacted about a playing or coaching opportunity with the New York Red Bulls by someone using a public e-mail address (e.g., Hotmail, Gmail, etc.), you should disregard that email. 
  • Read carefully: Sloppily written communications are typically telltale signs that a message may not be legitimate. Poor punctuation, spelling and grammatical errors and improper formatting (i.e., incomplete sentences, exclamation points, etc.) are just a few signs that you may be being groomed to be the victim of a scam. Do some independent investigation about the person or organization purporting to represent our club before replying to these types of communications.      
  • We operate in the United States: Although soccer is a global game, our staff live in the United States. If someone purporting to be a member of, or associated with, our club asks you to contact them on an international phone number, in most cases, that person does not represent the New York Red Bulls.

Common Fraud Examples:

  1. Tryout Letter. The fraudster poses as a senior member of our Sporting Department (e.g., Sporting Director, Head Coach, Head Scout, etc.) and sends a letter to a player or his agent inviting the player to trial with the New York Red Bulls upon signing a “trial contract.” The letter or “trial contract” may require the player or agent to pay the fraudster, our club or a third party a fee or arrange travel and accommodations through a particular agency. The New York Red Bulls do not ask players to sign “trial contracts” or require that prospective players or their agents, or coaches, pay any fees to trial with or join our club.
  2. Job Offer. The fraudster sets up a fake social media profile impersonating or pretending to be a senior member of our Sporting or Human Resources Department and sends the prospective player (or his agent) or coach a message that includes an “offer” of employment with our club and directing the recipient to pay the club or its representative (such as an attorney) a fee to begin the application process. The “offer” of employment may be in the form of a separate letter. The social media profile used to send the message may not be searchable. The New York Red Bulls do not use any type of social media to recruit players or coaches or to communicate with prospective applicants.