Price-gouging hotline inundated with calls

Reporter: Lindsey Sablan
Published: Updated:

FORT MYERS, Fla. Florida’s price-gouging hotline has received 3,000 calls in three days.

Most calls are coming from Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, which figure to be the hardest-hit as Hurricane Irma approaches. But many are coming from Southwest Florida.

A gas station in Fort Myers was selling cases of bottled water for more than $30, one woman said. Most of the calls into the hotline have been related to bottled water.

The volume of calls is unprecedented, according to those working the hotline.

“The worst call I got today, and this was the worst of the worst, was a 24-pack of six ounce bottles of water, for $72,” call center operator Martin Green said. “$72. That was in Jupiter today.”

The hotline number 866-9-NO-SCAM.

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