A charge labeled “AWX*Namei Shop” (sometimes shown as “AWX*NAMEI SHOP HTTPS://GCGIR CO”) on your credit card statement is a fraudulent charge from a scam website, not a legitimate retailer. The descriptor has been tied to fake online stores impersonating Joann Fabric & Craft Stores during that company’s bankruptcy, collecting payment for merchandise that never ships. If you see it on your statement, call your card issuer and dispute it.
Where the Charge Came From
Scammers ran ads on Facebook, Pinterest, and Nextdoor advertising an “online JOANN’s bankruptcy sale” with prices 80 to 90 percent off. The ads led to websites built to look like official Joann clearance pages, with branded product photos and a normal-looking checkout.1Federal Trade Commission. Avoid Online JOANN Impersonators and Their Fake Sales After checkout, buyers got confirmation emails, fake order numbers, and even phony FedEx tracking updates. The card statement, though, showed the charge coming from AWX*Namei Shop rather than from Joann.2Better Business Bureau Scam Tracker. Scam ID 961059 Nothing ever arrived, and the contact details on the scam sites were dead ends, including a customer-service number that actually belonged to MedicAlert.3Better Business Bureau Scam Tracker. Scam ID 1060544
Joann itself has no connection to any of these sites. The company disabled purchasing on Joann.com on March 5, 2025, and posted warnings that “there are no authorized Joann shopping websites.” Any real clearance happened only in physical stores.4ABC11. Joann Fabrics Scammers Take Advantage of Customers With Fake Sales Online The Better Business Bureau logged more than 200 reports about fake Joann sites during the liquidation period.5ABC News. Joann Warns of Fake Websites, Urges Customers to Shop in Store Reported losses typically ran between about $35 and $57.
Call Your Card Issuer First
Start with the fraud line on the back of your card. Report the AWX*Namei Shop charge as fraudulent and give the transaction date, dollar amount, and merchant name exactly as it appears on the statement.6Citi. How to Report Credit Card Fraud If your issuer lets you lock or freeze the card from the app or over the phone, do that too, so the scammer can’t run further charges while the dispute is pending.
Your financial exposure here is limited. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, maximum liability for an unauthorized credit card charge is $50, and when the card number is used in an online transaction you didn’t authorize, it drops to $0. Most issuers add their own zero-liability policies on top.7FDIC. Consumer News – Are Electronic Payments Safe8Visa. Security
Send a Written Dispute Too
To preserve the full set of rights the Fair Credit Billing Act gives you, follow the phone call with a written dispute. Send it to the billing inquiries address on your statement, not the payment address. Include your name, account number, and a description of the charge, plus any supporting documentation you have: screenshots of the ad, the fake order confirmation, the shipping email that never produced a package. The written notice has to reach the issuer within 60 days of the statement that first showed the charge.9Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges For purely unauthorized or fraudulent charges, some issuers accept disputes with no time limit.10Experian. How Long Do You Have to Dispute a Credit Card Charge
After the issuer receives the written dispute, it has to acknowledge it in writing within 30 days and finish its investigation within two billing cycles, up to 90 days.11Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Do I Dispute a Charge on My Credit Card Bill You don’t have to pay the disputed amount or any interest on it while the investigation is open, but you do have to keep paying the rest of your balance.9Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
Report the Scam
File a report with the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Those reports go into Consumer Sentinel, a database shared with more than 2,000 law enforcement agencies. The FTC won’t resolve your individual case, but the data helps identify patterns and support enforcement actions.12Federal Trade Commission. ReportFraud.ftc.gov You can also reach the agency at 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357).13Federal Trade Commission. Contact the FTC
If you handed over anything beyond a card number — a Social Security number, for example — visit IdentityTheft.gov for a recovery plan.14Federal Trade Commission. What to Do if You Were Scammed Placing a fraud alert with one of the three major credit bureaus is also worth doing. Once set, it requires creditors to verify your identity before opening new accounts in your name.6Citi. How to Report Credit Card Fraud
Avoiding the Next One
The FTC’s guidance for social media shopping ads is straightforward. Treat steep-discount ads from well-known brands with skepticism. Instead of clicking through, type the retailer’s address directly into your browser and look for the sale there. Pay with a credit card rather than a debit card, since credit cards carry stronger federal dispute protections and debit charges pull straight from your bank account, which makes recovery slower and harder.1Federal Trade Commission. Avoid Online JOANN Impersonators and Their Fake Sales The pattern that produced the AWX*Namei Shop charges — a familiar brand name, an urgent-sounding closing sale, a price too good to be real — is the same pattern the FTC has flagged across other impersonator scams on Facebook, Pinterest, and similar platforms.15Federal Trade Commission. Social Media Ad With Super Low Prices From Well-Known Brands Could Be a Scam