With many people unsure of when they'll get back to work, some are looking for any way to make some quick cash. And scammers are using this time of desperation to steal your money. The Better Business Bureau of West Florida spoke with ABC Action News about the trends they're seeing.
"We found a high victim rate of employment scams to consumers," spokesman Bryan Oglesbly said.
Hundreds of thousands of Floridians are out of a job, and it's been an agonizing wait with the glitches in the unemployment system. To protect yourself from being scammed, you want to look for red flags like a quick hiring process or sending you a big check, then asking for money back.
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"Your bank is required by law to make that money available in one or two business days," Oglesby said. "But they won’t verify it's fake until two or three weeks later, and if you already sent them back a portion of your money, that money is lost to the scammer."
There's another major scam the BBB is tracking.
"We had several reports of many different websites selling face masks [and] consumers losing anywhere from hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars thinking they were purchasing a legitimate product that did not exist at all," he said.
Oglesby suggests checking the web address to make sure it's secure. Look for the lock in the left corner or a web address that starts with https. Also, try typing that website into whois.com. It'll tell you how long that site has been up.
The Better Business Bureau has been compiling a list of coronavirus scams. to view the list, click here. If you notice a scam or have been victimized, you can report it on their Scam Tracker.