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It is illegal for businesses to significantly raise the price of essential commodities like gas and water as a hurricane approaches the state.

Yet it happens dozens if not hundreds of times during each storm.

The Attorney General is touting a new way for people to report and hold bad actors accountable.

As threat of a storm like Dorian increases, so too does the threat of price gouging.

Attorney General Ashley Moody is urging consumers to report complaints to her office.
“If they give us this information we can be proactive in making sure that people can have access to these commodities because we’ll stop the price gouging as it’s taking place,” said Moody.

Moody activated the state’s price gouging hotline Wednesday.

Even with the storm days away from making landfall, calls have steadily trickled in, with consumers reporting illegal price hikes on water, gas and plywood.

“You can sense people’s stress level because you know they’re trying to get things, trying to get everything collected, trying to get prepared for the storm and they go to buy necessary items and they see that they’ve increased double, triple in price,” said Crystal Fukushima, an employee in the price gouging receiving center.

Before now people generally called the state’s price gouging hotline to report companies, but the Attorney General has launched a new app that allows people to report detailed information and even photos of price gouging.

“All of this stuff immediately gets forwarded to our office,” said Moody. “It allows us to have more success on the back end when we’re trying to pursue these individuals.”

And employees we spoke with said so far they’ve been receiving more complaints through the app than phone calls.

It’s an early sign the new tool is making an impact.

The number for the price gouging hotline is 866-966-7226.

You can also download the Florida No Scam App for free on the both the Apple and Android app stores.