Agent Insights Ep 61: Pet Scams

Hey all, Jade here with another Agent Insights! Today, we'll be discussing some of the most common scams that are centered around pets, and how to avoid them.

To start us off, we'll look at the fake golden bunny scam.

In this scam, someone will create a completely yellow bunny pet (worth RIMs at most), and try to pass it off as a golden bunny (worth a decent short collar at minimum) in order to take people's rares. Often, they will use the Pet Wash feature on the bunny, so that it sparkles like a golden bunny does. 

However, this scam is very easy to identify if you look closely at the pets. The fake golden bunny (pictured on the right) is very clearly yellow, has black-colored features, and has no rare tag, while the real golden bunny (on the left) is clearly golden, has no colors other than shades of gold, and has a rare tag. So, if you're attempting to trade for a golden bunny, just take some time to look at the pet and make sure it's real. Don't rush into a trade that you haven't inspected first!

Next, a similar scam- the fake galactic firefly scam.

Sometimes, scammers attempt to pass off regular pet fireflies as galactic fireflies in order to get traded more than their firefly is worth. Regular fireflies are worth a good short collar at minimum, while galactic fireflies are worth 3 black long collars at minimum. 

In order to identify whether a firefly is galactic or not, look at the possible features for each on the Animal Jam Wiki. If you are trading for a supposed galactic fly, but it has features that are only available for regular fireflies, then you're getting scammed. When in doubt, you can also ask the opinions of others around you! Additionally, the pet should be marked as "galactic fly" or "firefly" on the pet certificate if it's on someone's trade list- however, sometimes the pet name shows up instead, so it's better to look at the features.

This next scam is a much more recent method- the "unreleased underwater accessories" pet scam.

Each underwater pet in Animal Jam has a set of "unreleased" accessories that are unobtainable in the normal Pet Stop. These are the same kind of accessories that are available for land pets in the Pets Only or Play-As-Your-Pet parties- however, underwater pets cannot access these parties. Pets with these accessories were originally created through the old pet creation mechanism, which had a random chance of giving you an accessory when you bought a certain pet. After the pet creation method was changed, these accessories became "unreleased", and the pets with them became very rare.

However, a glitch has recently been discovered that allows underwater pets to enter the pet parties and get these accessories without any sort of hacking. Due to that, these accessories are no longer rare or desirable. Some people are still trying to pass them off as "unreleased" or "glitched", in attempts to get good trades. So, if you see anyone attempting to trade an underwater pet with special accessories, don't trade anything too good for it! They're quite easy to get, if you know how.

Now, we'll look at a couple different types of pet code scams.

Sometimes, you'll see someone attempting to trade away a pet code- a way for a user to make a custom rare pet of a certain type. However, there are a couple different ways that people scam using pet codes. One method involves someone telling you that they'll give you a pet code if you give them your rare items first, but never giving you the pet code (or giving you a fake one) after you trade. Alternatively, they could offer rares for your pet code, but ask for you to give them the code first, and then never trade the rares.

To avoid these scams, you should never trade a pet code itself- rather, you should make the custom pet first, then trade for it/trade it away. This way, the person trading for the pet still gets full customizability, but you can still use the trading system and avoid risking anyone's items.

Finally, we'll discuss the pet accessorizing scam.

This scam involves a member saying that they will dress a non-member's pet for them, as non-members can't access the Pet Stop. The member will trade for the pet, then never trade it back. This scam is often used with rare pets, so that the scammer gains worth by keeping it. 

To avoid this scam, simply don't trust anyone with your items. Never trade an item to someone you don't know and expect to get it back. Additionally, remember that even buddies can scam, so it's smartest to not try this with them either. If you really have to get a pet dressed, have the member trade something fair for it, so that they can't just run off with it without losing their items as well.

Well, I hope this has been helpful! If you have any questions about these scams or how to avoid them, please feel free to leave them in the comments below. Stay safe, everyone, and Jam On!