Update Post - August

Hey all, Jade here with your update for the week of August!

First of all, we'd like to congratulate Galaxy for winning our monthly post contest! Great job catching the most scammers this month!

We've been discussing recruitment techniques and strategies recently, and hope to see an influx of new agents in the upcoming months. If you have any interest in joining the society, please head over to our Joining page and read through the information there!

If you aren't interested in joining the society but still want to contribute, you can submit scammers you find (with appropriate proof) to our Scammer Report Form, which we always appreciate.

Finally, if you aren't yet in our Discord server, we would love if you joined! Among many things, we host semi-weekly game nights and monthly events that anyone is welcome to participate in. We hope to see you there!

That's all for this month- stay safe, everyone, and Jam On!

Monthly Update - May

Hey all, Jade here with your newest Monthly Update! Happy Pride Month to you all- now, let's get into the changes from May.

First of all, we'd like to welcome two new Gammas, Grave and Galaxy, to the team! You've already seen some posts from Grave, and you can expect to see some from Galaxy in the near future.

Last month, we mentioned a new system where staff are not included in the schedule, and instead are warned by the choice of agents through the usage of the Staff Activity Form. We've continued to use this system throughout this month and it has gone quite well! As staff, we hope to be able to maintain and help the society grow more effectively through this system.

Our most major change this month was opening game nights to the public on our Discord server. Game nights are hosted every Saturday at 6 PM Pacific Time. The games we play include skribbl.io, Drawful 2, Board Game Arena, and Quiplash. So far, game nights have been a super fun experience and a great way for us to get more involved with the non-agent members of our server! If you want to participate in our game nights, feel free to join our server through the link above or the widget on the sidebar!

We are also continuing our event rotation on the server- we played Egg Hunt throughout May and it went very well. This month, we're playing Race Through Jamaa! For event rules and sign-ups, you can join our server and check out the Events category.

Finally, we would like to remind you all that applications to join the society are open and available on our Joining page! If you have applied and were rejected before, you are welcome to reapply, but please remember the 3 month waiting period between applications. Additionally, if you aren't interested in joining the society, you are still free to join our Discord server or submit any scammers you find through our Scammer Report Form!

That's all for this post- thank you all for reading! Stay safe out there, and Jam On.

Agent Insights Ep 64: Wiki Worth Scam

Hey all, Jade here with your latest Agent Insights! Today, we'll be talking about a pretty rare kind of scam, but one that's also pretty easy to fall for: the wiki worth scam.

One very helpful tool to anyone looking to trade on Animal Jam is the Animal Jam Item Worth Wiki, or the AJIWW for short. It has pages for the worths of nearly all rare items and is kept very up to date with various changing worths.

However, since the wiki is collaborative, users can choose to edit pages and add incorrect worths. Sometimes this is done for trolling purposes, but it can also be used to scam. When setting up a trade with someone, a scammer could go to the wiki page for one of the items in the trade and edit it so the worth is incorrect. They could use this to get you to trade more for their item, or to get you to accept less for your item.

Since the worths are from such a reputable source, it's very easy to fall for this scam. However, there's an easy way to avoid being tricked: Go to the wiki yourself and check the page edit history. Pages are regularly edited with updated worth, so you can't be suspicious of every edit you see, but if you see a sudden and large drop/gain in worth, a very recent edit, an edit from a new/inactive account, or any combination of the three, it's likely a scammer trying to trick you into a bad trade.

In the case that you find someone attempting this scam, you should simply undo their edit and then report their account. As long as you take some time to investigate and don't let anyone pressure you into trading without double-checking worths, it's relatively easy to avoid this scam!

Well, that's all for today. If you have any questions about the wiki or this scam, feel free to leave them in the comments. Thanks for reading, everyone- Stay safe and Jam On!

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!

Agent Insights Ep 60: Item Lookalike Scam

Hey all! Jade here with today’s Agent Insights. Today, we’ll be talking about the item lookalike scam.

In this scam, a scammer will trade away an unrare item that looks like a very rare item, usually glitched or beta. By getting a fair trade for the rare variant of the item, but actually trading an unrare lookalike, they are scamming whoever they trade out of their items. Often, they'll try to convince you that you're getting a great deal by trading them less than the rare variant is worth, but you're actually trading them more than the un-rare variant is worth.

This scam is relatively easy to avoid if you’re careful with trading and know how to spot commonly used lookalikes. Today, we’ll be going over some of the items that are commonly used for this scam and how to identify the differences! (In each of the sections below, the rare item is shown on the left, while the non-rare item is shown on the right.)

First up, cupid wings. There are two types of cupid wings in Animal Jam- glossy and non-glossy. During the first release of the item, it had a bright shine, but on its second release, the old versions were replaced with ones with a duller shine. Glossy cupid wings are worth anywhere from one black long to 70-75 black longs, depending on color. In contrast, non-glossy wings are only worth a den beta each. To tell the differences, look at the color of the shine on the wings. If the shine is white (or light grey in the case of black wings), they’re glossy. If the shine is tinted in the color of the wings (or dark grey in the case of black), they’re non-glossy. 

Next, the beta homemade wings. This item is a lighter coloration of the homemade wings in stores, and the two are very difficult to tell apart. Beta wings are worth two black longs at minimum, while the regular wings can be bought in stores and are therefore worth next to nothing. The difference between the wings is in the color of the green section- beta wings are a lighter and more yellow shade than the storebought ones. However, as it is so difficult to tell the variants apart, it's advisable to simply not trade for this item.

The next item is beta arctic hoods. The beta hood was sold during the beta period of Animal Jam, and not re-released with the rest of the set. Its fake variant is the light blue coloration. The beta hood is worth around 150 black longs, while the light blue is worth only a few RIMs. To tell the difference between these two items, look at the color of the hood fabric. The beta version should have a much more turquoise color, while the fake hood is clearly blue. 

Next, glitched rings. There are three different glitched rings, but the one most commonly used to scam is the second variant. The second glitched ring is worth 3 black longs, while the storebought ring used to stand in for it is available in stores. The difference between the items is that the glitched ring has dark spots on its sides, while the storebought ring has light spots. 

Now, the beta and pearly tiaras. The beta tiara is worth 18 black long collars, and the pearly tiara is priceless- both were sold during the beta testing period. Both look very similar to a storebought variant of the tiara- green with a red gem and white with a blue gem, respectively. To identify the correct versions, look at the gem colors. The true beta tiara will have a purple gem, while the storebought version will have a red gem. The true pearly tiara should have a purple gem, while the storebought one will have a blue gem. Additionally, be very suspicious of any pearly tiaras you see for trade- there are less than five known copies of the item in game, so it’s very unlikely that you'll ever see someone trading one away.

Next up, the beta blanket. This item is worth 25 black longs, while the variant used to stand in for it can be bought in stores. The beta blanket has a light green body with slightly darker patches, while the storebought variant has a dark green body with lighter green patches. 

Next, the yeti face. The glitched yeti face is worth a good short collar, while the blue yeti face is worth a good long wrist. The two look very similar, but the glitched version has a slightly lighter coloration. Since they're relatively close in rarity, it wouldn't be the end of the world to trade for the wrong one, but it's still good to avoid trading for one, since it's so difficult to tell the two variants apart.

The next item is the ornament earrings. The glitched ornament earrings are worth a decent to good long collar, while the regular variant is an annually returning item and only worth a few RIMs. The glitched version has a slightly more blue-tinted left earring, but the colors are still very hard to tell apart, so it's best to not trade for this item.

Next, the jamaaliday branch antlers. The glitched item is worth at least two good long collars, while the regular brown coloration is worth only a few RIMs. The difference in the two can be found in the veins of the branches- the glitched version has a slightly lighter color, while the regular antlers have a more red tint to the veins. This is another item where the variants are very hard to tell apart, so again, it's likely best to not trade for it.

Finally, the surfboard. There is a variant of the original surfboard that is red with bubbles, and is worth two good long collars. The item used to stand in for it is nearly identical, but it is storebought and worth very little. The storebought version has a large bite mark in it, while the rare version is completely whole.

Well, I hope this guide has helped! If you have any questions about how to tell the difference between versions or suggestions for an item that should be added, feel free to put them in the comments! Stay safe out there, everyone, and jam on!

Update Post - September

Hey all, Jade here with this month's update post!

To begin, we'd like to extend a warm welcome to Gammas Holly, Arrow, Riptide, Rivers, and Pepper. Congratulations on completing training and becoming part of the society!

Next, we'd like to remind you all of our Scammer Report Form feature. If you have a scammer to tell us about, you can head over to the report form and fill it out, and we'll use the evidence you give us to make a post! This is a much better method of alerting us to scammers than posting in our Discord server or in the comments on one of our blog posts, since it gives us the opportunity to review the situation and collect sufficient evidence. We encourage you to make use of the report form if you ever have evidence of a scammer in action!

Next, speaking of our Discord server, please feel free to join our server if you would like to chat with us! We've recently introduced a couple new features, such as a media channel, and are still working on testing for our seasonal game events. The link to join the server is also located in the sidebar of our blog. We'd love for more of you to come hang out with us!

Our applications are also reopened, now that our training system has been revamped. If you'd like to apply, head on over to our Joining page and read through the information there!

Finally, we would like to reiterate that you should never be attempting to impersonate anyone in our comment section. We review each comment carefully and will not approve any comments that appear to be posted with harmful intent, especially those that are part of an impersonation scheme. Please, do not impersonate anyone on this blog, no matter what your intentions are.

That's all for today- thanks for reading! Stay safe out there, and Jam On!

Random Saturday Ep 63: AJHQ Instagram Contests

Hey all, Jade here with this week's Random Saturday! Today, we'll be talking about Animal Jam's Instagram contests!

 

On February 5, 2016, AJHQ introduced a new feature to their Instagram page- contests! These contests were a sort of replacement for the now-discontinued Daily Explorer contests (including Jammer Snaps, Epic Dens, and News Crew).

AJHQ's Instagram contests are typically a den or outfit contest, centered around a specific theme. Participants post their entries for the contest with a specific hashtag, then AJHQ goes through the hashtag and picks a set of winners. The winners are then featured on the AJHQ Instagram and receive a special prize in both Animal Jam Classic and Animal Jam. Past themes have included "AJFriendshipDen", "AJPWcastle", "AJLemurs", "AJDayAtTheBeach", and many more!

The number of winners for each theme does not appear to be set, but AJHQ will typically run each contest for at least three days and pick at least five winners per day. Prizes are also random, but tend to be relatively rare items.

Overall, I think this feature is a pretty cool one! If you have an Instagram account or can make one, these contests are a great way to have fun on Animal Jam and possibly win some rares! (Please keep in mind that you must be at least 13 years old to use Instagram.) 

Have you participated in or won any of these contests in the past? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments!

Agent Insights Ep 53: Suspension Giveaways

Hey all, Jade here with this week's Agent Insights! Today, we'll be talking about another kind of fake giveaway- suspension giveaways.

Suspension giveaways are often aren't technically a scam, but they're still a fake giveaway with the intention of hurting other Jammers, so it's important to know what they are and how to avoid them.

Most suspension giveaways start out relatively normal- the host will ask you to repeat some phrases after them, and whoever repeats them all fastest/most accurately will win a prize. This will go on for a while, but eventually they will ask you to repeat two final words, after which they will announce the winner. There are a few different things that they may tell you to repeat, but two of the most common combinations are "as" and "whole", or "bit" and "cheese". If you repeat either of these word combinations after them, your account will be immediately suspended. (Please do not test this out in game- I can guarantee that you will be suspended.)

Now, why does this happen? If you look closely at the word combinations in the previous paragraph, you'll notice that the words can be combined to form curse words. As Animal Jam is a children's game, AJHQ doesn't want anyone using vulgar language in the game, so if you say anything that could be construed as a swear, you will be suspended. 

But, if saying these things will get you suspended, then why can the host of the "giveaway" say them and not have any consequences? Well, if you look at suspension giveaways such as this one, you'll notice that the host is splitting up the two words with other phrases. Because the words aren't said together, the chat filters don't pick them up, and therefore the host isn't suspended. However, the attendees of the giveaway will only be saying those two words, without anything between them. So- the attendees will be suspended, and the host won't be.

Finally, how do you avoid suspension giveaways? All you need to do is think before you act. If you think about what you're saying before you say it, you are much more likely to notice if somebody is trying to trick you into saying something bad. It can be tempting to type as fast as you can in order to win the giveaway, but it's not worth the potential risk of losing your account. This rule also applies to any other giveaways- think before you do anything that the host is telling you to do! If whatever they say could pose a risk to you or your items, don't do it.

Well, that's all for today! If you have any more questions about how to avoid these giveaways, feel free to leave them in the comments. Stay safe out there, everybody, and Jam On!

Update Post - July

Hey all, Jade here with your update post for the month of July. Let's get right into it!

First of all, we're happy to welcome two new agents to the team- Sunny and Aqua!

Next, we were finally able to get ownership of our Discord server transferred! Since we now have the ability to edit all roles, we have made major edits to our society ranking system, which you can read about here.

We are also still continuing testing of our new events for our Discord server. Once we are done with the testing, we will begin hosting an event once a month in the server. If you would like to participate, you can join our server at this link! We have also added reaction roles to the Discord for post pings, pronouns, and event pings.

Recently, there have been multiple incidents of people posing as others on our blog in order to attempt a scam or frame someone else for scamming. We would like to remind all of you that we review each application and comment carefully, and that we aren't going to fall for schemes such as these. Please, do not impersonate anyone on this blog, no matter what your intentions are.

Finally, we would like to remind you all to be careful when trading. There has been a recent influx of attempted S14 scams on the Animal Jam FANDOM page, using a variety of items. Please, do your research before trading, and don't put your trust in any trade that seems too good to be true!

Well, that's all for today! Thank you all for reading. Stay safe out there, and Jam On!

Agent Insights Ep 51: Hacked Pet Bears

Hey all, Jade here with your latest Agent Insights post! Today, we'll be talking about hacked pet bears, and how to avoid them.

The Meagyn's Pet Bear was a limited edition pet that was released in honor of a Jammer named Meagyn, who visited AJHQ with the help of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. These pets were sold in the diamond shop from November 2018 until January 2019. As of now, they are typically worth a few den betas each, though some uncommon bears can go for Spiked Collars.

Starting in the later months of 2019, people began noticing pet bears with adoption dates later than January 2019. These bears were being hacked into the game and passed off as regular bears- and, as of now, they are still being hacked in regularly.

Trading for one of these hacked bears is a very bad idea. Many hacked bears are deleted from the game by AJHQ when they are discovered- meaning that, if you trade for one and keep it, it will likely be deleted and you will have traded your rare items for nothing. Additionally, there have been cases of Jammers getting banned from the game for having a hacked bear on their account. Getting banned for having a bear is relatively unlikely, but it is always a possibility- so, it's better to be safe and not have them at all. 

So, how do you tell if a bear is hacked? There is only one way to tell for sure- the adoption date. Any bear with an adoption date after January 2019 is hacked. Whenever you're trading for a bear, make sure to pull up the adoption certificate first and check the date. 

Many hacked bears have also been noted to share the following traits: solid color (same color for primary and secondary), squinted eyes, fluffy ears, and mohawk- so it's reasonable to be especially suspicious of bears that fit this description. However, as you can see in the picture of the hacked bear earlier in this post, not all hacked bears share these features, so it's best to be safe and check the certificates of all bears.

Now, if you're buying a bear from a shop, there is no way to check the certificate directly. Instead, you'll have to pull up the owner's player card, open their pets tab, and scroll through until you find the bear you want to buy. This may seem tedious, but finding the bear to check its certificate is much better than wasting diamonds on a hacked bear.

Finally- what do you do if you already own a hacked bear? Well, you shouldn't trade it or sell it, because whoever owns it next could face consequences for having it on their account. Instead, you'll need to simply release the pet. This may seem like a disappointing solution, but it's much better to just remove the bears from the game instead of letting them circulate and cause more problems. To release a pet, just go to your pets menu and click the cage icon in the lower left-hand corner, then click whatever pet you need to release.

That's all for today! If you have any more questions about hacked bears and how to avoid them, feel free to leave them in the comments below. Stay safe, everyone, and jam on!

Random Saturday Ep 56: Membership Options

Hey everyone, Jade here with your latest Random Saturday! Today, we'll be talking about the various membership options in Animal Jam. 

Membership is a purchasable status in Animal Jam that comes with many features and perks, and is how Wildworks makes most of its money. On AJPC, membership allows you access to a daily diamond bonus, member-only items, the Jammer Wall, custom name tags, and more! On AJPW, membership allows you access to daily sapphires, pet expeditions, packs, the color coordinator, and more. 

Though there are a lot of perks to getting membership, a lot of people simply can't afford it. So, I've collected a list of all your options to get a membership, in order to make it easier for you to decide which is your best option!

Your first option for membership, and the most well-known, is simply to purchase it on the Animal Jam website. This method gives you three different options for purchase- one month, six months, and twelve months. The twelve month option is the best deal in regards to price per month, but the one month option is the least expensive in the short-term. 

This purchase option also comes with the added benefit of membership bundles- additional items that come along with your membership, depending on when you buy it. More information about bundles can be found here!

This method of getting membership, while easy and efficient, isn't necessarily affordable for everyone. So, let's move on!

Your second option for membership is to buy it with Sapphires on AJPW. If you manage to collect either 400 or 500 sapphires (the price switches from time to time), you can buy a one month membership that will apply to your account on both AJPC and AJPW! This is the method I use most often to get membership on my alt accounts.

To get sapphires, you can play games, level up, watch ads, and more. More information about sapphire memberships can be found here. Though it is relatively easy, grinding for sapphires can often get tedious, so let's look at another option!

Your third main option to get membership is Referral Rewards. When someone new signs up for Animal Jam, they have the option to enter the username of the person who told them about Animal Jam. If they enter your username, you will get a gem reward, and they will be added to your referrals list. As seen in the referral "levels" above, if they become a member, you will receive a one week membership, and if three or five people who you referred become a member, you get a one month membership.

This method is probably the hardest to use, because it is quite difficult to get that many people to sign up for memberships. However, if you have friends who want membership, or enough patience to get sapphire memberships on alt accounts, it's a good option! 

There are a few additional methods for getting membership. You can buy membership cards at stores like Target, you can receive free membership cards from AJHQ or related sources, or you can occasionally find codes officially released by AJHQ, such as AJFREE (not active anymore). 

One important thing to remember about membership is that anyone who says they can generate membership for free is lying. Membership generators are always a scam, and they will more often than not hack into your account and take your items. Rather than trusting someone random on the internet, use one of the above methods to a get a membership for yourself!

Well, I hope this helped! If you have any additional questions about any of these methods, feel free to comment down below. Stay safe, and Jam On!