Scammers put up fake website in attempt to trick consumers, take advantage of Joann Fabrics closing
NORTH CAROLINA (WTVD) -- A warning about closeout sales promising big discounts if you buy online. The problem is that these sales may be fake.
This warning involves one store going out of business one of those businesses, Joann Fabrics. At the storefront, signs state everything must go, but watch out for this type of sale advertised online.
Meredith Radford with the Better Business Bureau of Eastern Carolinas says, "Unfortunately, there's fake websites popping up pretending to be the legitimate Joann Fabrics website and marking down their products for super, super low amounts. They're just taking the photos off of the legitimate website and reposting them onto the fake website with prices on them."
Radford says the deep sales get people to click. "People are falling for that because they want cheaper products that are on sale, but they're not actually getting the products. They're just giving away their money," Radford adds.
Joann Fabrics does have this warning about this scam on their website stating as of March 5th, purchases on Joann.com have been disabled. There are no authorized Joann shopping websites.
There is a similar warning on Joann's social media pages.
To avoid fake sales, the BBB says to watch out for social media ads that have nothing to do with legitimate business. Once you click the ad, it takes you to the fake website. Also, look at the URL as copycats often have websites very close to the real business but just add a number or extra character.
If you get a text or email about a sale, don't click on it, instead, always go directly to the company's website to confirm the sale.
