The Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission (FCCC) has warned traders not to take advantage of the public’s fears during the coronavirus global outbreak by overcharging prices of goods and services.

“We want to let traders and businesses know that we will not tolerate any attempts at price gouging,” said FCCC CEO, Joel Abraham.

“We have seen that overseas businesses have increased the price of items like face masks and hand sanitisers by large amounts after the announcement of the COVID-19 global outbreak.”

Price gouging is the practice of raising prices on certain types of goods and services to an unfair level, especially during a state of emergency.

FCCC will be working hard to ensure that unscrupulous traders do not undertake such tactics in an attempt to cheat hardworking Fijians.

“We have heard that certain businesses locally are starting to do this and we want to make it very clear that this is unacceptable. A few weeks ago a trader was fined $100,000 and ordered to pay compensation to aggrieved consumers, this should be an example to unethical businesses that such bad behaviour will not be tolerated and we will continue to crack down hard on such cases.”