Special to IFN

RALEIGH – Attorney General Jeff Jackson on Tuesday announced that the state’s price gouging law is in effect across the state after Gov. Josh Stein declared a state of emergency in advance of this week’s winter weather.

The price gouging law makes it unlawful for businesses or sellers to charge excessively high prices during a crisis. North Carolinians can report price gouging to the Department of Justice at 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or www.ncdoj.gov/pricegouging.

“As the winter weather rolls in this week, stay safe and watch out for scammers trying to take advantage of consumers by jacking up their prices,” Jackson said. “If you think a business might be raising costs unlawfully, don’t hesitate to reach out to my office to file a complaint. We’ll look into it and take action to hold price gougers accountable.”

In some cases, businesses need to increase prices so they can offset rising costs and the effects of critical incidents on their industry. But businesses can’t unreasonably raise prices to increase their own profit, and they should disclose any reasonable increases to customers before they buy.

North Carolina’s price gouging law goes into effect when the governor declares a state of emergency. The law is currently active under both the winter weather state of emergency and the Hurricane Helene state of emergency.

The Attorney General’s Office has received nearly 500 price gouging complaints related to hurricane recovery. In December, the Department of Justice filed a price gouging lawsuit against a tree removal company for price gouging a Hendersonville couple out of $25,500.