While the ongoing gas shortage in post-Sandy New York and New Jersey shows no signs of ending anytime soon, the black market for precious fuel is thriving.
It didn’t even take a week for the vultures to swoop in to feed off the death and destruction in New York and New Jersey.
Take the people selling gasoline by the tank on Craigslist. Ads are popping up where sellers are willing to hand-deliver gasoline for as much as $30 a gallon to people who are struggling after Hurricane Sandy, reports Business Insider.
Here’s an example of an ad:
“Need gas ? [sic] I’m an upstate New York contractor bringing gas to the brooklynn [sic] area tonight about 10:30. I have 5 gallon containers of regular unleaded gas available for sale [$150]. If interested please call to discuss price.”
Of course, it’s not legal to gouge people like that, but that doesn’t mean people won’t try. And since Craigslist attracts vermin like this on everything else, it shouldn’t be surprising that they’re showing up to try to take advantage of storm victims too. Of course, you can flag the ads for removal, but they just pop back on.
The government is shipping millions of gallons of gas to New York and New Jersey, and gas rationing has started so everyone can get a little bit of gas until the crisis is over, according to CNN:
“On days that end in even numbers — such as November 4, 6 or 8 — gas station operators can sell gas to only those with license plates with a last digit that is even. On odd-digit days, such as November 3, only those with plate numbers ending in an odd number or those with specialty plates can get gas.”
But it’s cold in the hurricane zone, and it’s just getting colder, so you can be sure these kinds of ads won’t stop – and plenty of people will be willing to fork out money.
Disgusting, isn’t it, what people are capable of doing to each other?