Agent Insights Ep 47: Session ID Hack

Hey all, Jade here with this week's Agent Insights! Today, we'll be talking about how to avoid getting hacked through your Session ID. Someone recently tried to hack me using this method, so I figured it would be a good idea to spread awareness of it!

This hack often begins with someone promising you that they can generate items on your account. They'll tell you that they only need one thing in order to generate into your account- your Session ID, which is a string of numbers generated when you log into Animal Jam on your browser. They'll often claim that their method is "risk-free", since they don't need your password. However, the ID can be used to find your password, which is why they want you to give it to them. Often, the hacker will contact you on a platform other than Animal Jam itself, so don't assume that it's not a hack just because you're not talking to them on the game.

If you happen to give them your Session ID, they will tell you that the items have begun generating, and to not log into your account until they tell you that the generation is done. This is so that they have the chance to get into your account and take your items without you realizing and trying to stop them.

There is also a version of this hack where the hacker has you download a certain file/program and run it in order to generate the items. This file will actually be a virus which will automatically grab your Session ID and send it back to the hacker.

If you have given someone your Session ID but they haven't taken your items yet, don't panic. Log into your account to make sure they aren't in it, then go to your Parent Dashboard and disable your account while you are still logged in. Then, log out. This will prevent them from getting into your account until you have the chance to change your password and/or transfer your items.

In order to avoid this hack, the most important thing to remember is that you should never believe anyone who says that they can get you free items. Item generators are always a scam/hack, and even if they weren't, they would be against the Animal Jam TOS. Additionally, never give anyone personal information related to yourself or your account, and never open suspicious links/files.

Well, that's all for today! If you have any other questions about how to avoid this hack, feel free to leave them in the comments or on our Discord server. Stay safe everyone, and Jam On!

Random Saturday Ep 55: The Beta Party

Hey everybody, Shade here! For this Random Saturday, I thought it would be cool to look back at one of the rarer Animal Jam parties: The Beta Party. 

The Beta Party was released so far for only three years for a couple of days; the latest date of the party being available to everyone being in 2018. Introduced on July 23, 2014, the party was meant to celebrate Animal Jam's early beta stage back in 2010 and was set in the original den given to all players in the beta. 

Players were given a shop of den items that they could chose from. Although not den items from the beta stage, a lot of them were inspired by different beta items or were made accessible as den items when they wouldn't have been before. For example, the monkey statue as seen below was originally located in The Lost Temple of Zios in the place of the Zios Statue and was not a den item. 

The last Beta Party I ended up going to, had these items above to buy but over the years, the items ended up changing a little. 

In its first release, the party was said to have a few glitches, with the shop not being able to be clicked on as well as there being no music to the party. However, this was soon fixed by AJHQ, given the music that you can listen to here.

As someone who joined the game in 2012, the Beta Party ended up being one of my favorites. It gave newer players a chance to get a small feel of what the beta was like and gave older players a place to remember old times and to celebrate how far the game has grown. 

Agent Insights Ep 46: Sapphire - Diamond Conversion Rate

What's up everyone! Today, I bring to you your next episode of agent insights! Today, I'm gonna be talking about what the conversion rate of sapphires to diamonds (and vice versa) is. This episode might be a little mathy, but the math has to be done to get the conversion rates. Without further ado, let's go!

For this post, I will be basing the conversions on multiple things. They are namely Animals, Pets, Dens, Items and the premium currency - gem conversion rate.

The first one I will touch on is the animals. A premium animal in AJPC costs 10 diamonds. A premium animal in AJPW costs 150 sapphires, assuming that it is not on sale. Assuming that the animals cost the same across both games, that means 1 diamond is equal to 15 sapphires. Alternatively, it can be seen as about 0.067 diamonds per sapphire.

Next up is pets. One premium pet in the diamond shop costs 3 diamonds. One premium pet in the sapphire shop costs 50 sapphires. This means that 1 diamond is equal to 16.7 sapphires, or 0.06 diamonds per sapphire. Note that these values are similar to the ones calculated above.

Next are the dens. One premium den in the diamond shop costs 7 diamonds, while one premium den in the sapphire shop costs 150 sapphires without a sale. Doing the math once again, this means that 1 diamond is equal to about 21.4 sapphires. It can also be seen as 0.047 diamonds per sapphire. These values are noticeably different from the ones previously calculated. I'm not sure why, but WildWorks decided to price it that way.

Now, I will touch on common items that both shops share. For this post, I will be comparing the prices of the full Ice Armor Set. The helmet costs 2 diamonds in AJPC and 10 sapphires in AJPW. This calculates to 5 sapphires per diamond, or 0.2 diamonds per sapphire. The amulet follows a similar rate. It costs 1 diamond on AJPC and 5 sapphires on AJPW. The rate is also the same for the armor. It costs 3 diamonds in AJPC and 15 sapphires in AJPW. However, the rate gets a little different from here. The gauntlets cost 1 diamond on AJPC but 10 sapphires on AJPW. That means that for the gauntlets, the rate is 10 sapphires per diamond or 0.1 diamonds per sapphire. Similarly, the tail armor costs 2 diamonds on AJPC and costs 20 sapphires on AJPW. That rate is the same for the gauntlets. Overall, it costs 9 diamonds for the full set in AJPC and 60 sapphires for the full set in AJPW. That tallies to about 6.67 sapphires per diamond, or 0.15 diamonds per sapphire. Note that this rate is significantly different from those above, so bear that in mind if you are looking to do a cross-platform trade! (Though, I do not encourage that. More can be found here.)

Lastly. I will look at how they compare by using gems. For this comparison, I will be using best dressed as a means to compare gems across the two games. In AJPC best dressed, the winner wins 200 gems. In AJPW, the winner wins 250 gems. Therefore, 1 gem in AJPC is worth 1.25 AJPW gems. In AJPC, 1 diamond is equal to 1000 AJPC gems. In AJPW, 10 sapphires can be exchanged for 1000 AJPW gems. Doing the math, 1 AJPC gem is equal to 0.001 diamonds. 1 AJPW gem is equal to 0.01 sapphires. However, since 1 AJPC gem is equal to 1.25 AJPW gems, we can conclude that 0.001 diamonds is equal to 0.0125 sapphires. Multiplying both sides by 1000, 1 diamond is equal to 12.5 sapphires.

After all that math, I decided to summarize everything for easy reference:

Animals: 1 diamond = 15 sapphires
Pets: 1 diamond = 16.7 sapphires
Dens: 1 diamond = 21.4 sapphires
Items: depends on the item itself, but generally it is 1 diamond = 6.67 sapphires
Comparison using gems: 1 diamond = 12.5 sapphires

Phew, that all the math from me now, till next post!
-Dew

Random Saturday Ep. 54: Leilani on Moku'ahi

Hello, readers! It's Rose again with your newest Random Saturday. Although the topic of Moku'ahi has been done before, I'd like to focus on Leilani and the items she trades to Jammers in AJPW (or Animal Jam). 

First of all, Leilani is an NPC, or a non-player character. She stands at the top of Moku'ahi every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday (in GMT). If you find her on these days, she will offer a new rare-tagged variant of an already existing item for another item that was previously available. When you trade Leilani, you will get a popup that asks for the item you need to get the rare variant. 

Some of these items are quite valued by Jammers because of the rarity of the item traded or because of the similar appearance to another popular or rare item. For example, Rare Ice Dragon Wings, although Leilani wanted Fancy Frozen Claws, a less popular item, are quite popular and are very wanted. 

I think that Leilani is a good addition to AJPW, and she's introduced more items and an easier way to work up the rarity system to newer Jammers. 

Thanks for tuning in, 

Rose out <3

Agent Insights Ep 45: S14 Revisited

Hello everyone. Flint here, to talk more about the S14/Two Person Scam, as this scam has been growing in popularity recently and has taken on some new twists.

S14 takes place with two scammers, or one scammer with two accounts. Scammer 1 offers a huge overtrade for an uncommon, but worthless item, while Scammer 2 has said uncommon, worthless item, and will try to get people to overtrade for it. Once someone overtrades Scammer 2, both scammers leave.

Usually, this is a fairly uncommon scam, that takes place with the scammers standing in Jamaa Township advertising like they're normal jammers who just want to trade. However, a new variation of this scam has popped up recently.

In this variation, someone will JAG you or personally speak to you about how they will trade you items of very high value in exchange for an uncommon, worthless item (you may not have heard of the item before). If you have the item, they will decline your trades and leave, or they will claim that they want a special glitched variant of the item. If you don't have the item, or the scammer claims they want a glitched version, a second account will contact you. This account will just so happen to have the uncommon item, and will trade it to you in exchange for some of your rares/valuables. If you accept the trade, both scammers will leave, and if you try to trade Scammer 1 the uncommon item, they will decline.

There are several ways to quickly identify this scam. If people are offering a very valuable trade for a very specific item you haven't heard of, or an item you don't know for certain is valuable or not, that person is likely Scammer 1. If another person has the exact item Scammer 1 wants, wants a lot of rares for it, and is conveniently located right next to/met shortly after your encounter with Scammer 1, that's a sign that this person is a Scammer 2.

If you want to check whether the item Scammer 1 is asking for is actually valuable or not, you can try checking the Item Worth Wiki. If the item isn't on there, it's probably not very valuable. (Note that scammers may try to change the values on the Item Worth Wiki right before they go scamming, so watch out for that and possibly check the page's history to see if it's been radically altered recently).

You can also check the Animal Jam Wiki for information on an item's release date, whether the item is in stores or not, how recently the item was obtainable, or whether it has a real glitched variant. (If the glitched variant isn't listed on the Wiki, it probably doesn't exist.)You can also try just searching up 'animal jam [uncommon item]' on a search engine to see if people regularly trade high-value items for this item, or if the person you've encountered has recently attempted many scams with this item.

That's all for now. Watch out for this scam, and make sure you know how valuable the items you're trading for are. Goodbye!

Random Saturday Ep 53: Earning free membership (AJPW)

What's up everyone! I'm here with your next episode of Random Saturdays! Today's topic is about earning free membership in AJPW.

Firstly, membership can be bought in AJPW without spending real money. It just takes a little hard work. A one-month membership can be bought in the PW sapphire store for 500 sapphires. I've seen it drop to 400 before, but I'm not sure if its based on an event, or based on the number of sapphires a jammer has. Now, you might be thinking, how are you going to get that many sapphires? For those of you who didn't buy membership with real money, here's how you can earn enough.

The first thing to do is to play games. This is because AJPW has a "milestone reward" kind of feature that allows players to earn gems from games. You need to hit certain milestones in the games to earn sapphires. Some examples include reaching a certain level, getting all three stars or running a certain distance. After you do, you can head over to the sapphire gift tab in the games menu and claim your sapphires. However, you need to know that those sapphires can only be claimed once.

After that, you can choose what you want to do next. If you still do not have enough sapphires, I suggest to watch ads in the sapphire shop. There is a chance that sapphires will drop from the chest once you complete an ad!

Alternatively, if you are not in a hurry to get membership, and don't mind some grinding, I suggest you to get some paintseed trees and a phantom portal. The phantom portal is not necessary if you know someone who has a portal readily available. So, you put the paintseed trees in your den, and harvest the paintseeds when they are ready. These paintseeds are needed in the phantom dimension to defeat phantoms. When you have earned enough phantom coins by defeating phantoms, you can buy a super sapphire potion, which can drop three sapphires when used. More information can be found here.

The key to earning enough sapphires for a membership is not to splurge them. They are hard to come by once you clear the milestone rewards in games. The good news is that it is relatively easy to be able to sustain that membership once you've started it. This is because a membership will get you five sapphires every day, and also give you access to pack hideouts. This topic will probably be touched on in a separate Random Saturday.

That's all from me now, till next post!

-Dew

Agent Insights Ep 44: The 'Borrowing' Scam

                     

Hey guys, Shade here! Today's a little bit of a shorter post but I wanted to touch on a scam I don't really see very often: the borrowing scam. The borrowing scam is something that could take a lot of time when other scams have been proven to work faster so that could be why it isn't seen that often. 

So what is the borrowing scam? Well it's pretty self explanatory and it involves a scammer going up to someone and simply asking to borrow one of their items, whether they say it is to try it on their character to see how it looks on them, etc. 

The borrowing scam seems to go one of two ways and it more so depends on how long the scammer is willing to drag the whole thing out. Sometimes, they will just go to your den and ask to borrow an item you might be wearing or that's on your trade list. Other people might try to 'befriend' you for a little in trying to gain your trust and then going to ask for your item. After that, a scammer might leave or make some kind of an excuse to leave and unbuddy you later. I've probably only seen this scam once, years and years ago and even then, it isn't heard about a lot in the Animal Jam community. Like flash trading and the pillow scam, it really seems to be a thing of the past that most people don't do anymore.  

But that wraps up this post. Until next time,

Shade

Random Saturday EP: 52 Graham's Workshop

Hi Guys! It's Agent Neutron here for your first Random Saturday written by me (I am sorry this is a short one) to talk about an adventure in AJPC, Grahams Workshop. 

Graham's Workshop is wildly different than the usual adventures, such as Lucky Clovers, or The Hive. This adventure is called a "Grinding" one. Basically, all you have to do in Graham's Workshop is repeat a certain action a lot of times to get resources. 

Once you have got enough resources, you can spend them at the shop, to get an item.

Although the adventure is for all jammers, some of the items in the shop are members only.

There are 5 different resources you can get in Grahams Workshop. The first one is Bamboo, which you collect with a basket, Wood, which you collect with a wheelbarrow, Stone and Gemstones, which you both get with a hammer, Silver and gold, which you get with a Pan, and finally Straw, which you get with a Pitchfork.

That's all from me, stay safe, and enjoy playing this great adventure!

Agent Insights Ep 43: Code Scams

Hello, everyone. Flint here, to talk about various scams in AJ involving codes.

I won't be talking about membership codes here, though some of the scams I'll mention share similarities with membership code scams. I'll be talking about codes for items, currency, and things like that.

A simple code scam occurs when someone says that they will give you a code in exchange for items. They usually either give you a broken code, or take off with your items without giving you anything in return. This can easily be avoided by just ignoring anyone who tries to do it.

A more complex scam occurs when someone will give you a code, that they tell you does not work until you do something to activate it. This something will usually involve entering your information into some non-Animal Jam location, downloading something, or visiting some strange off-site location. 

If they try to get you to visit somewhere or do something off-site in order to activate your code, they are probably lying and trying to scam you. Entering information into non-AJ places will result in said info being stolen, and downloading stuff and visiting strange sites will probably give your computer viruses.

It is not advisable to enter in strange codes that others give you. Most of the time entering the codes themselves won't do much, but the codes likely won't work and getting them to work will get you scammed. I've heard of instances where entering codes will give people access to your account, but I do not know the validity of these claims. If you're concerned about that, don't go to the dens of or enter any codes given by people who promise free codes. Just report them for scamming and move on. You can always look up codes people advertise to see if they're legit or not.

In summary, people that promise to give you codes in exchange for items are lying. People that promise to give you free codes in exchange for you giving them your info or doing something off-site are lying. Don't give people items without having received a fair trade for them, don't click on sketchy links, and don't give anyone your info.

That's all for today. Goodbye!

Update Post - May

Hey y'all, happy pride month! Jade here, with your update post for the month of May.

First, we're happy to welcome four new gammas to the society: Quacc, Bluebird, Queen, and Wolf!

Since we have an increased amount of agents, we will be continuing to schedule scammer posts on Wednesdays in addition to Thursdays. We're always glad to be able to increase our posting frequency and catch more scammers!

Recently, we have been discussing ideas to increase participation within our Discord server. As part of this goal, we've introduced a Pokemon bot into the server and have begun testing on another team event. We are also considering introducing movie nights and/or a music channel! In relation to this, we are still working on revamping our games channels. If you have any suggestions for casual games we could play in the server, please let us know in the comments!

Speaking of our Discord server, we'd love to invite you all to join! We're currently working our way up to 100 members so that we can transfer ownership of the server, and every additional person helps! Plus, we'd love to just hang out and chat with you.

Finally, as always- we're hiring! Check out our Joining page for more information if you're interested in joining the society!

That's all for today- thanks for checking in! Stay safe out there, Jammers.