North Carolina’s price gouging law is in effect in Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, and New Hanover counties after Monday’s major rainfall and flooding.
The Department of Justice reviews complaints of alleged price gouging complaints, and the attorney general’s office investigates and prosecutes the cases.
North Carolina’s law against price gouging, or charging too much in times of a crisis, goes into effect when the governor or the legislature declares a state of emergency, as Gov. Roy Cooper did Tuesday.
In some cases, businesses and industries that are heavily impacted by the incident have a reasonable need to increase prices in order to resupply, but they should disclose these increases so people can make informed purchasing decisions. Businesses cannot, however, unreasonably raise the price of goods or services to profit from a state of emergency.
“The storms over the past few days have taken a heavy toll in eastern North Carolina,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “As people clean up and recover from flooding and storm damage, please be on the lookout for price gougers. Most businesses will go out of their way to help their neighbors – but a few bad apples may try to scam you, and we won’t let them.”
Report potential price gouging by calling 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or by filing a complaint at https://ncdoj.gov/pricegouging.
