The consequences of price gouging

Some people are taking advantage of the pandemic and price gouging items like toilet paper and cleaners.

NEED.BUT THE ATTORNEYGENERALS IN MISSOURIAND KANSAS HAVE AMESSAGE FOR THOSELOOKING TO MAKE SOMEBIG BUCKS OFF THECORONAVIRUS.NEW THIS MORNING -CONSUMER INVESTIGATORCAT REID TAKES A LOOK ATTHE CONSEQUENCES OFPRICE GOUGING.SUPPLIES ARE FLYING OFFTHE SHELVESEmily pfeiffer/shopperNo toilet paper, no papertowels and no cleaningproducts reallyLEADING SHOPPERS TO GOONLINETO SITES LIKE AMAZON,EBAY AND FACEBOOKMARKETPLACETHE 41 ACTION NEWSINVESTIGATORS FOUNDSEVERAL POSTS IN THEMETRO FOR HOUSEHOLDCLEANING BUNDLES-MOSTLY REASONABLYPRICED.THAT"S NOT THE CASEEVERYWHERETAKE THIS PACKAGE OFTOILET PAPER THAT GOESFOR 5 BUCKS ON DOLLARGENERALWE FOUND IT GOING FOR30 DOLLARS ON EBAY.Attorney General DerekSchmidt/Kansas-So far the bulk of theproblems that have beenbrought to our attentioninvolve exactly what youwould expect: hand sanitizer,cleaners and wipes and toiletpaper.THE KANSAS ATTORNEYGENERAL"S OFFICE ISTRACKING COMPLAINTSABOUT PRICE GOUGING.GOVERNOR LAURAKELLY"S DECLARATIONOF A STATE OF ANEMERGENCY TRIGGEREDTHE ANTI-PROFITEERINGSTATUTE.Schmidt-For any necessary goods andservices, it"s unlawful fora vendor to unjustifiably raisethe price by more than 25percentTHE AG"S OFFICE SAYSFACEBOOK AND AMAZONARE WORKING WITH THEMTO FIGHT PRICE GOUGING.SchmidtThey"ve allowed us tohave some direct access totheir anti-fraud individuals aswe or others bring specificcircumstances to theirattention they take a quicklook, and if they agree thatwhat"s happening isunlawful, they"ll takeaction to shut it downTom Albus/Missouri FirstAssistantAttorney GeneralWe"re in daily contact withfolks from facebook, fromamazon, from other platformsand they"re trying to root itout before it gets to theregulators as wellON THE MISSOURI SIDE-THE AG"S OFFICE CANPROSECUTE PRICEGOUGING EVEN IFTHERE"S NOEMERGENCY DECLARATIONFROM THE GOVERNOR.THE HOPE IS THAT PEOPLEARE WILLING TO STOPHIKING UP THEIR PRICESSO THEY CAN AVOID GOINGTO COURT.Albus-When you can bring thisinformation to somebody likethat and say this is beyond thefree market, this is beyondmarket fluctuations, this isprice gouging and it needs tostop, I wou;dn"t besurprised if a lot ofMissourians would say I didn;trealize the greater context andagree to stop that course ofconductCat Reid-If you live in Missouri andcome across price gouging,you can file an onlinecomplaint on the attorneygeneral"s website.

Or youcan call their hotline at 800-392-8222Kansas residents can alsoreport issues online or call theconsumer hotline at 800-432-2310.

I"m consumerinvestigator cat reid, 41 actionnews today.