NEWS
M'sian Arrested For Hoarding 223,000 Face Masks And Selling Them For A Higher Price
Crisis situations often show us the true colous of people. For example, with the #kitajagakita campaign, you can see Malaysians coming together to help each other.
Then there are a**holes like this online seller in Kota Damansara who hoarded about 223,000 pieces of three-ply surgical masks and sold it for a much higher price than allowed.
This is at a time where frontliners and others who really need it are struggling to find stock.
Swift justice
According to Malay Mail, the seller reportedly sold the face mask for RM3.50 each, even though the ceiling price set by the government is RM2.
Bear in mind that the usual price for face masks is about RM0.80, so the maximum price allowed is already more than double the usual price. But some people are greedy. Who cares if the frontliners risk their lives trying to minimise the impact of COVID 19 as long as their own pockets are lined, right?
Nabbed by authorities
The good news is, the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry officials raided a premise in Kota Damansara and seized the items, worth about RM446,000. For some reason, the name of the person was not revealed. The goods were sold online to people around Kota Damansara and Petaling Jaya, and the perpretator used Facebook to advertise the wares.
The rest of the transactions were reportedly done via WhatsApp.
The person violated Section 11 of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011, and if convicted, can be fined not more than RM500,0000 for the first offence and a fine not exceeding RM1 million for subsequent offences.
If the scheme was run by an individual, the fine will be up to RM100,000 for first offence and RM250,000 for subsequent offences.
The authorities managed to catch the greedy person because of complaints by the public. If you come across more of such selfishness, you can make a report by calling 1-800-886-800 or 03-8882 6088/ 6245, the Enforcement Command Centre (ECC) here.
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