FRAUD WARNING
It has come to our attention that third parties may be attempting to impersonate members, staff or employees of Inter Miami CF and illegally using the Inter Miami Brand to attempt to commit fraud, especially on the internet, via e-mail and on social media. These fraudsters are contacting players, coaches and parents 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 parents 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 professional 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., Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.) to recruit players or coaches.
- At this time, we do not endorse, require or recommend that a prospective player, parent, 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. Usually scams have certain traits. Please be aware of them. Look out for the following:
- Know our team: The names of most of the members of our Sporting Department are listed on our website (). 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. We are aware that in some cases these fraudsters are referencing our team members by name.
- In this case, make sure to check the email address. Every email from a representative of our club will be sent from a valid Inter Miami CF email address. If you are contacted about a playing or coaching opportunity with Inter Miami CF 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 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.
- There will be a Sense of urgency or fear. The sender is asking for your credentials (social security, date of birth, etc…), payment information, or personal details. Do not give your personal information or payment.
Common Fraud Examples:
- Tryout Letter. The fraudster poses as a senior member of our Sporting Department (e.g., Sporting Director, Head Coach, Head Scout, Assistant Coach etc.) and sends a letter to a player or his guardian inviting the player to trial with Inter Miami CF upon paying a fee for an Assessment Confirmation and Medical Certificate. Inter Miami CF does not ask players to pay for an Assessment Confirmation or Medical Certificate to trial with or join our club.
- 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 parent) 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 or exist and be fake. Inter Miami CF does not use any type of social media to recruit players or coaches or to communicate with prospective applicants.