NEWARK – The State Division of Consumer Affairs has received 2,978 complaints against 1,800 businesses in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
Of those complaints, about 90 percent involved price gouging on needed items like surgical masks, hand sanitizers, disinfectant sprays and wipes, food, bottled water, and other essential items. Some of these were in New Jersey; some were in other states that were taking advantage of New Jersey customers. Some were brick-and-mortar locations and some were online marketplaces.
This has resulted in 514 cease-and-desist letters and 89 subpoenas, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced.
“It’s times like these when New Jersey residents need the Division of Consumer Affairs most,” Grewal said. “When people are concerned about keeping their families healthy and paying their bills, they shouldn’t have to worry about becoming the victim of unscrupulous market practices. If you’re a business looking to take advantage of New Jersey consumers, we’re coming for you, and don’t bother trying to hide behind an online profile.”
New Jersey’s price-gouging law took effect on March 9, when Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency. The law prohibits excessive price increases during a state of emergency and for 30 days after. A price increase is considered excessive if the new price is more than 10 percent higher.
“We will not stand for businesses seeking to take advantage of consumers during this pandemic. The investigation of consumer abuses is always a top priority, but even more so during the COVID-19 health crisis,” said Paul R. Rodríguez, Acting Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs. “We are reviewing thousands of potential violations, and we ask consumers to take advantage of our new online complaint form, which now allows them to submit photo evidence when they report suspected violations.”
If you suspect consumer fraud like this visit njconsumeraffairs.gov/Pages/Consumer-Complaints.aspx to fill out a form.
Other types of fraud are also being spotted. For example, individuals are price gouging on online marketplaces that are largely unrestricted, such as Amazon, Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.
The Division is also investigating other allegations of consumer fraud, including several reports of companies falsely marketing products as effective to prevent the spread of COVID-19, or overstating the effectiveness of their products. One company, for example, is accused of falsely claiming that its sanitizer and disinfectant products are more than 99.9% effective against COVID-19.
