Scamming doesn't pay

Disaster aftermaths provide fertile ground for scammers. Most states are prepared to deal with excessive charges for products and services that prey on victims who, in desperation, pay far more than they should.

In Missouri, scammers fall under the review of the attorney general's office. Missouri's attorney general, Jay Nixon, has vigilantly responded to complaints about gasoline prices in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. This week he announced nine gasoline retailers had agreed to pay fines, and a 10th retailer in Springfield, Mo., is being sued.

While the nine retailers who have paid fines are in Southeast Missouri, no service stations in the Cape Girardeau area were cited, indicating gas retailers locally held prices at levels that reflected the volatile marketplace for petroleum products.

Another positive note is the fact that there were fewer scams than in the wake of the terrorist attacks in September 2001, when 48 Missouri retailers settled cases with the attorney general.

And Ron Leone, executive director of the Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, pointed out that 10 gas retailers out of Missouri's 3,000 outlets is an extremely low percentage, indicating nearly all gas retailers kept prices as reasonable as possible under the circumstances.