As Black Friday approaches, the date when many companies run promotions to replenish inventory before Christmas, a federal lawmaker has proposed criminalizing discount fraud.
The motion was introduced by Rep. Lucas Abrahao (Rede-AP) on November 19. The text proposes criminalizing the practice of “artificial price increases to simulate a subsequent discount.”
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The São Paulo government is guiding consumers regarding the safety and quality of products on Black Friday
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Supermarkets are being fined for false advertising on Black Friday
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“This proposal seeks to curb an increasingly common practice in physical and digital commerce, which is to artificially raise the prices of products or services days or weeks before promotional dates, such as Black Friday, and then announce false discounts that represent no real benefit to the consumer,” says the MP on the project.
According to Abrahau’s proposal, this practice could lead to imprisonment for a period ranging from three months to a year, in addition to a fine. During seasonal or promotional periods, such as Black Friday, the penalty will be increased by a third.
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The parliamentarian adds: “The previous artificial increase in prices has become so frequent that they have begun to be monitored by independent platforms, revealing to the consumer that a large part of the supposed ‘reductions’ are nothing more than price gouging. The aim of this project is to provide greater legal stringency, with explicit classification, criminal sanctions and administrative penalties proportional to the seriousness of the behaviour.”