$30 Hot Dog: Ground Zero Hot Dog Vendor Fired For Ripping Off Tourists

Would you buy a $30 hot dog?

One hot dog vendor in New York City was trying to make a hefty profit by selling items on his cart for ridiculous amounts of money. According to Fox News, Ahmed Mohammed was caught upping his prices for certain customers, charging anywhere from $10 to $30 for items like hot dogs and pretzels. Almost every customer was told a different price… some paid, and some didn’t.

“I said, ‘What are you, a crook?’ I’m not a tourist, so I know the price in New York,” explained one customer.

“I just felt like I was getting ripped off, and it’s just making the 9/11 grounds like a big tourist trap,” said another.

The $30 hot dog was indeed overpriced, and apparently Mohammed’s decision to inflate prices when he felt like it is against the law. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Mohammed was required to post the prices of the items he was selling, but he never did so. Over the past several weeks, numerous fights had broken out between the vendor and his customers, but he still made a decent amount of money from the people he was able to swindle.

Now, Mohammed has lost his job. According to People Magazine, cart owner, Abdelalim Abdelbaky, saw the story on the news and fired Mohammed. Mohammed was caught on camera charging people over 10 times the price of a NYC hot dog (usually about $2.50), and that was all the proof Abdelbaky needed to see. He says that his former employee was pocketing the extra money and had always said he sold hot dogs at the regular price. Meanwhile he was making a killing.

“Mohammed has also been issued two summonses for failing to list his prices (which is required by the city) and for two Environmental Control Board violations. The Alliance for Downtown New York also addressed the issue after fights began to break out regarding Mohammed’s sky-high prices.”

The $30 hot dog wasn’t even anything special. The fact that the cart was in a tourist-rich area certainly helped Mohammed get away with his side game for quite a while, but those visiting Ground Zero will no longer see him — or be charged an outrageous amount of money for an afternoon bite.

Those visiting the city should know that it is expensive, but not that expensive. You can get a snack and a drink for under $5 and shouldn’t pay anything more than $10.

[Photo via YouTube]