Reported By: Shannon Cake and Miranda Khan

Contact 5 Consumer Alert! In the days before and after a hurricane, consumers must be more aware of people who want to rip them off. Beware of price gouging before and after a storm. Price gouging is when the cost of necessities such as food, water, ice, gasoline, lumber, generators or hotel rooms is raised to take advantage of people during an emergency.

For this reason, Florida's Attorney General has a price gouging hotline. During Hurricane Charley in 2004, the hotline received more than 3,500 calls.

After a storm, be wary of whom you hire for tree removal or to repair your home.

• Do not pay cash for these services, as you'll want to have a paper record of the transaction.
• Check to make sure the company you hire is licensed to perform the work.
• The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) is the agency that oversees the licensing of contractors.
• Always read any contract throughly before you sign it and don't pay the contractor in advance.

It's always important to be careful how and where you spend your money, and even more crucial in the days before and after a storm.

• Florida Price Gouging Hotline
  1-800 646-0444
• Florida DBPR
  (850) 487-1395