If people fleeing from catastrophic Hurricane Milton didn't have enough to worry about, they're now the direct target of scammers looking to profit off misfortune.
Florida's Attorney General has received hundreds of complaints about price gouging amid mass evacuations along the Gulf Coast.
While most complaints are about fuel and water, some have reported instances of outrageous prices for overnight accommodations -- including one Airbnb listing of a "room in Tallahassee" for nearly $6,000 a night, USA Today reported.
"Our team already reached out to our (Airbnb) corporate contact and tracked down the owner," AG spokesperson Kylie Mason told USA Today. "We are sharing a copy of the price gouging statute ... and making them aware of their legal responsibility."
The Attorney General's office has extended its Price Gouging Hotline, which was already in effect following Hurricane Helene two weeks ago. During a storm-related declared state of emergency, state law prohibits excessive increases in the price of essential commodities, such as equipment, food, gasoline, hotel rooms, ice, lumber and water needed as a direct result of the event.
Anyone who suspects price gouging can report it to the hotline or file a report online. Violators of price gouging are subject to civil penalties of $1,000 per violation and up to a total of $25,000 for multiple violations committed in a single 24-hour period.
Milton is the first major hurricane to directly hit the Tampa area in more than a century. It's now expected to make landfall sometime between 10 p.m. Wednesday and 2 a.m. Thursday as a Category 4 storm, bringing with it 155 mile-per-hour winds, up to 18 inches of rain, flash floods and storm surges up to 15 feet, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Storm surge warnings cover almost the entirety of Florida's western coast. Authorities are warning people who do not evacuate ahead of Hurricane Milton to mark themselves with their names and the phone number of a family member so their bodies can be identified and their loved ones notified.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor issued a similar warning on Monday night, saying, "This is literally catastrophic, and I can say without any dramatization whatsoever, if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you're going to die. This is something that I have never seen in my life."