The stock market has come under fire recently after Robinhood cut off the trade of certain companies last week and during the pandemic, more people than ever have dipped their toes into the markets first the first time.

Based on the popularity of trying to get in on the market, scammers are preying on people and a local financial professional is offering up some advice. Connie Unruh is the President of the DeWitt County TRIAD and indicates COVID-related stock scams are increasing recently.

According to Unruh, accompanying a lot of these penny-stocks are fake data charts. Unruh says before you do any investing, do your homework and plenty of research. She points out even experienced investing professionals rarely beat the market.

Unruh says the most important thing is to do your research and know the risk involved in investing in individual stocks. She says the ultimate risk is losing everything.