NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — Millions of people who lost their jobs during COVID-19 are actively looking for work; but that means job scams are on the rise, too.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, over $40 million has been lost to COVID-19 related scams.

Port Richey resident Tiffney McGregor said she fell victim to a job scam.

“It’s been stressful, so finding this so-called ‘job’ was heaven sent,” she said.  

Like many others, her old job was affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

She started looking for work and one day received an email on Indeed.com - an ad for a personal care assistant.

That's where things got messy.

“They said that they would be sending me a check for the applicant I’d be taking care of,” she said.   

Unfortunately, that's a fake check scam.

Here's how it works: Someone sends you a fake check. You're asked to send some of the money back.

By the time the bank finds out it is fraudulent, you're stuck paying that money back and the scammers are long gone.

In this case, McGregor sent some of the money back via Cashapp after depositing the check.

Then the check was marked as invalid, draining her bank account. McGregor has since filed a police report and alerted the FTC.

“There are hard times out there, people are getting laid off so I completely understand the desperation but at the same time you got to be careful,” she warned.

Here are some questions to keep in mind to help you look out for to potential scams:

• Are there grammatical or spelling errors in the ad?
• Is the recruiter using a personal email address?

For more information on COVID-19 scams and how to avoid them, visit ftc.gov.