In this time of chaos where the novel coronavirus that began in Wuhan seems to be spreading rampantly, many of us have started taking precautionary measures as a means to protect ourselves from the highly contagious virus.
One of which is to buy surgical masks which have been said to reduce your chances of getting infected.
But of course, with the demand for surgical masks going up, some inconsiderate people have seen it as a chance to profit. That’s right, I’m talking about profiteering.
Hoarding Masks & Profiteering
Many people have scrambled to get surgical masks in view of the Wuhan virus spreading rapidly, however, a few merchants in South Korea have instead decided to hoard these supplies and as a result, cause a “sharp increase in prices”.
This in turn also caused the demand for face masks and hand sanitisers to surge even higher.
The two items were subsequently added to a list of designated products by the South Korean ministry of economy and finance.
Merchants who hoard more than 1.5 times their average monthly sales volume of designated products will be subjected to a jail term of up to two years or a fine of a maximum of 50 million won (~S$58,000).
What About Singapore?
You might think that this only happened in South Korea but unfortunately, our people here have also taken this opportunity to profit.
Recently, there was a Carouseller selling a pack of 10 surgical masks for $1,000. Others sold masks for up to $288, clearly marking up the price in an attempt to earn money following the news of many drugstores like Watsons and Guardian running out of stock for masks.
Carousell and Qoo10 have since threatened to ban sellers who sell masks at an inflated rate.
The Government has also taken steps to give out four masks to each household in Singapore.
It is sad that in times of trouble, people still have the guts to profit from others’ demise. Hopefully, people will learn from their mistakes after getting banned or even fined and jailed.
