People who take unfair advantage of others by charging excessive prices or extracting unreasonable payments; people who use a gouging tool.
From 'gouge' (to scoop out or hollow), possibly from Celtic 'gulbia,' combined with the agent suffix '-er.' In figurative use since the 1800s, referring to someone who 'scoops out' money from victims through deceptive pricing.
Calling someone a 'gouger' is brilliant—it literally describes someone who hollows you out financially, just like the tool hollows out wood, which is why people use the same word for both the carpenter's tool and the mortgage scammer.
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