North Carolina’s Price Gouging Law in Effect in Southeastern North Carolina

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Contact:
Nazneen Ahmed (919) 716-0060

(RALEIGH) North Carolina’s price gouging law is in effect in Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, and New Hanover counties after severe rainfall and flooding impacted southeastern North Carolina. The Department of Justice reviews price gouging complaints closely and Attorney General Josh Stein will hold accountable price gougers for breaking the law.

“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.”

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. In some cases, businesses and industries that are heavily impacted by the incident causing the state of emergency 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.

Please report potential price gouging by calling 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or by filing a complaint at https://ncdoj.gov/pricegouging.

Since 2018, Attorney General Stein has brought 12 lawsuits against 29 defendants under North Carolina’s price gouging statute. He has obtained 14 judgments or settlements totaling $1,080,000 against 25 defendants, including a $274,000 settlement that was the largest price gouging settlement in the department’s history.

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