Illinois Shoppers: Beware Of Joann Fabric Online Closing Scams

Time flies when you're closing stores, I guess.

It was less than a month ago, February 25th, that Joann Stores made the announcement that they'd be closing all 800 of their locations from coast-to-coast, including the stores here in the state of Illinois. That announcement came on the heels of a previous statement from the company that said only 500 of their 800 would close.

As you might imagine, this didn't sit well with fabric and craft shoppers in America, and then some further moves by Joann Stores during the ongoing closing process have made many soon-to-be-former Joann customers even more upset about how the closings are being handled.

The biggest cause of anger and frustration came when Joann announced that they would no longer accept gift cards (that had already been bought and paid for).

Now, the scammers have entered the chat.

Like I Said, Many Joann Fabrics Shoppers Were Irate To Find Out About The Gift Card Thing

For example...

With so many shoppers angry and confused, it seems like the perfect time for scam artists to jump in and make things even worse:

Regardless Of The Offer Or Discount, Joann Fabrics Want You To Know That Any Website That Says You Can Place An Online Order With Joann Fabrics Is Fraudulent

How can you know for sure? One way is to check the website address. If it's not the same as the one above, it's not Joann Fabrics. If you do go to Joann's official website, Joann.com, you'll quickly see that they've halted all online orders, and have posted this note:

As of Wednesday, March 5th, purchases on Joann.com have been disabled. There are no other authorized Joann shopping websites. Please see your local store for all your crafting needs. Inventory varies by location.

One other interesting and important note on the Joann Fabrics closing sales comes from GoodHousekeeping.com:

JOANN is holding closing sales — but the deals may not be as good as you think. The liquidator selling off JOANN’s assets first raised prices across the board, then reduced them by 20-30% as a “sale.” However, on some items, these “sale prices” are actually higher than the regular price was.