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As Australia continues to suffer from a shortage of sanitary items due to COVID-19 fears, one man has apparently taken advantage of the situation by trying to resell toilet paper with an enormous markup.
Australian television network Nine News was able to speak to one man, whose name was withheld, who was selling 20 rolls of toilet paper for A$2,000 (around P67,000 pesos), or A$100 (around P3,300) per roll.
The news outlet set up a meeting with the online seller in the guise of buying toilet paper, as per Nine News yesterday, March 6. The man, who was selling the product on the e-commerce website Gumtree, demanded a cash-only transaction.
After arriving at the scene and finding out he was about to sell the overpriced toilet paper to the news outlet, the man immediately tried to leave and told the reporter that he was selling the product for “an operation.”
His advertisement for the toilet paper on Gumtree was taken down after the incident, according to the report. This is no isolated case, however, as there have been similar cases of other “opportunists” selling overpriced goods amid the the spread of the disease, the report said.
The outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has driven Australians into panic-buying tissues, hand sanitizers, alcohol and the like in an effort to avoid infection. Manufacturers and supermarkets are now trying to handle the shortage as Prime Minister Scott Morrison cooperates with major supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles to provide a solution.
Amid the shortage, one tabloid, NT News, offered an alternative to toilet paper via their issue yesterday, where they put eight extra pages that readers can cut out and use when the need arises.
Australian authorities have so far reported 60 COVID-19 cases and two deaths. Globally, over 90,000 people have contracted the novel coronavirus, while more than 3,100 have died. Ian Biong /ra
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