Agent Insights Ep 31: Membership Giveaways

Hello, everyone! Flint here to talk about membership giveaways in Animal Jam.

Membership giveaways are where someone offers a membership for something. It doesn't necessarily have to be free like a legitimate giveaway, it just involves the exchange of a membership. It can be in exchange for your password, some items, whatever.

Membership giveaways are scams. Exchanges of memberships are scams. There are virtually no exceptions to this rule. 

Sites that promise free membership if you just give them your password or account information are scams that will use the info to log onto your account and steal all your items. Similarly, sites that promise free membership if you just download something or go to some website are scams, and the things they have you download are probably malware or spyware. Any sites they direct you to will either ask you for private info, or give your computer viruses.

Membership generators like these are always scams and should never be trusted. Remember to always report these sites to the platform they're on, or to Animal Jam itself. Tell them that it's a site designed to steal passwords or spread malware, and they will probably remove it.

Individual jammers who say they will give you memberships are also lying. Since memberships cannot be traded like normal items, you will probably give them your end of the trade and then they will run off with all your stuff.

If they ask for your password so they can give you the membership, they could use it to hack you and steal all your items. They can also buy a membership for you and then charge-back or cancel it, which will automatically and permanently ban your account. You should never trust anyone who isn't you or a parent with your password.

The only legitimate way to earn a membership is by buying it. Anyone or anything else that promises to give you a membership is lying and trying to scam you. Stay safe, jammers. Bye!

Update Post - January

What's up guys! I'm here with your update from the month of January. Without further ado, let's go!

Alright, the first news is that major changes are being made to the society. The members and I are currently in a meeting, discussing about big changes to be made to the society. We have changed our Code of Conduct, and many more revamps and revisions are coming your way.

Next, we also have updated the apllication form to help us better decide if an applicant is suited for the society.

Third, Sigma Blue and Gamma Cat have retired from the society. I wish you all the best in your future endeavours!

Next, we will not be posting much this month due to the shortage in manpower. For the month of February, we have cut our posting in half.

Lastly, we are hiring! In order for us get our posting to what it was before, we need more manpower. If you fell like you are well suited for the society, go ahead and fill in an application form! We will then review it, and contact you separately.

That's all the news today. Stay safe, and Jam On!

-Dew

Agent Insights Ep. 30: Allies

Hello, everyone. Flint here to write an Agent Insights about scammer allies.

While allies aren't a scam in and of themselves, they are a scam accessory that can make a scam more effective. Allies are jammers that try to trick others into thinking a scam is legit by posing as normal people that trust the scammer or benefit from the scam. In case it's not clear, allies are in on the scam and have worked out an arrangement with the scammer. Most scams that use allies only use one, but there can be more.

Signs of an ally include:

- Constantly/often says that the scammer is legit, they've won their giveaways before, the scammer is trustworthy/their friend, etc. Basically, vocally advocates for the scammer

- Related to the above, will often be the only person/people doing this. Everyone else will either be silent, lukewarm, or calling out the scam

- Will usually have traded big items or be winning any contests

- When in a den, the ally will often be there first.

- The ally isn't locked out.

- The ally contradicts people when they say that they got scammed

Alts are a subcategory of ally as far as scamming goes. Alts are controlled by the same person, allies are controlled by a different person. Signs of an alt include...

- Doesn't talk or move much 

- Doesn't talk or move at the same time as the scammer

- All the traits of the ally

- Sounds the same/similar as the scammer

- If the scammer is unintelligent, will have similar usernames

- Many occasionally say things that the other account meant to say

Just remember, jammers advocating for the scam aren't necessarily indicators that it's safe. That's all for today's post. Bye!

Random Saturday Ep 38: Year of the Rat

Hey, Jade here with your Random Saturday! Today, we’ll be talking about some of the festivities that come with the Chinese New Year on Animal Jam- specifically, the Year of the Rat Party!

When you enter the party, you’re brought to a path in the middle of a small grassy area. 

If you head up the path, you’ll enter the main area of the party. 

In this area, you can buy several fun items for the New Year:

There’s a few other areas to explore in this party: a mountain, a river, some waterfalls that you can slide down, and a very pretty view!

Personally, I love the design of this party and the items you can buy from the shop in the main area. What are your opinions on the New Years update? Do you think they should have added more items, or made the area bigger? Let us know in the comments!

Well, that’s all for today! Stay safe and jam on!

Agent Insights Ep 29: The PW trade limit

Edit: This post was made with regard to the old trade system. The PW trade system has undergone a revamp since the time of writing this. Details on the revamp can be found here!

What's up everyone! I'm here, presenting to you today's Agent Insights. Today, I will be talking about the PW trade limit and how that could contribute to scams.

So, in AJPW, we are only allowed to trade 4 items at one time. That's the max, and we cannot offer more than 4 items per trade. In my opinion, there could be some scams that benefits from this limit. One such example is the S14 scam. More about S14 can be found here.

Since we are only allowed to trade 4 items at once, scammers can force others to trade rarer items by claiming that their list isn't rare enough. The system also makes it easier for the scammer to gradually push the items on a trade list to a greater value until they are what the scammer wants. This is because we can't add more "small rares" to the list once the cap is reached.

In situations like that, I strongly recommend you to set a personal cap of what you are willing to trade. It is also handy to know the rarity of items before setting out to do some trading, in case you come across some unfair trades. Finally, it is important to think before acting. This way, you can decide for yourself if it is a trade eorth making, or if you are risking too much.

That's all from me now! Until next time!
-Dew

Random Saturday Ep 37: History of Club Geoz

Hey ya'll! It's Shade, with your latest Random Saturday post, diving into the history of Club Geoz! For all those newer jammers out there, Club Geoz used to be a sight in Jamaa Township before Alpha Headquarters was ever a thing. 

From the beta days in 2010 to October 2017,  Club Geoz was accessible for the many different types of jammers looking for a party. Jammers could also go in there to play games like Spider Zapper and Phantom Fighter next to the entrance below, as well as take pictures in the photo booth. 

In it's early days, Club Geoz was originally located where Jam Mart Clothing is today, where the interior was flipped, with the door being on the other side of the room, to match up with the outside of the building. Jam Mart, originally was in Club Geoz's spot (as seen below) before they switched places after the beta. 

For a short time, the dance club remained a members only room, until it was changed for all jammers in enjoy shortly afterward. 

And from then on, it remained, growing smaller after the diamond shop came into the game. Around this time and even before, Club Geoz was growing less and less popular as a place for jammers to visit. Most of the times I had been in the room, the room was often seen as empty with only a few jammers visiting it, if at all.

Nevertheless, Club Geoz was introduced during the Play Wild beta, both through the actual building and the Dance Party, one of the first parties on Play Wild. 

Comparing the Dance Party to Geoz, as seen, the two have very little differences in their interior. While the Dance Party seemed lively and lit up, Club Geoz was lesser that way.

Even in Play Wild, Club Geoz seemed to get the same treatment as it did on Animal Jam, and the dance club mostly sat alone and forgotten. It was only a few years later, when WildWorks finally decided that Geoz was on it's last straw, and decided to get rid of it for good. The weeks up to Oct 12, 2017, the Jamaa Journal introduced a mysterious phenomenon called the lines of power both in Play Wild and Animal Jam. The lines of power seemed to come out of nowhere, theories coming up of maybe the phantoms trying to destroy Jamaa with these lines. And when the 12th came around, Club Geoz was discovered to be gone for good.

For a couple of weeks, Club Geoz remained in this state, at one point, a secret shop appearing that gave jammers access to buying the Club Geoz Headphones. AJHQ, hinted that this destruction of the dance club could've been from something sinister but players who wanted to know answers never found out what really happened that day. And soon enough, Club Geoz was replaced with Alpha Headquarters only a couple of weeks later. 

The Alpha Headquarters was a proven success, a way more popular room than Club Geoz ever really was. It was unfortunate loosing such a big part of Animal Jam history, but ultimately it was something that was going to happen sooner or later due to it's decrease in popularity. Today, Club Geoz lives on, in both the Play Wild Dance Party, as well as the Club Geoz Playset, part of Animal Jam's deal with Jazwares. The Club Geoz music can even be redeemed from a code that comes with the set. 

Club Geoz is an important part of Animal Jam's history and it showed how much the game grew over the years. Even after it's been gone for some many years, Club Geoz still continues to make an impact in the game, from the different items related to it, to the Dance Party in Play Wild. 

Agent Insights Ep 28: Mailtime

Hello, everyone. Flint here, to write a post about mailtime.

Mailtime is when famous jammers go through their jam-a-grams and open gifts fans send them. It could also be broadly described as a person going through their jam-a-grams on video, usually ones from fans and involving gifts. Today, I'll be covering a couple scams and suspicious activities that involve mailtime.

Sometimes when I'm walking around Jamaa, I see people advertising for mailtimes. Something along the lines of "Gift me for mailtime! You'll get a shoutout/some other thing!" Now, in my opinion, advertising for mailtime defeats the purpose. That's not a real mailtime with fans, it's just random people sending you gifts because "oh cool a shoutout". I would recommend not giving anything to people advertising for mailtimes. If they're legit, they're faking support (and opening gifts containing mostly RIMs and store-bought stuff would be boring). If they're lying, you just sent stuff to a scammer. You could check out their YouTube channel if they give it, though.

Occasionally, I see people saying "Gift me for mailtime! Best gift gets something in return!" If this 'something in return' is anything other than a shoutout or appreciation, it's a thinly veiled best-gift-wins scam, and they will run off with everyone's items. 

Also, people claiming to be the alts of famous jammers asking for mailtime gifts are probably lying. Don't believe people that claim to be famous jammer alts unless they have been personally confirmed by the famous jammer in question. And, of course, check for spelling so you don't send gifts to scammers with similar usernames.

That's all for this post. Bye!

Update Post - December

What's up everyone! I'm here with your update post for the month of December!

Firstly, I wish to say thank you to all of you who read our posts and followed us through 2019. It was a very interesting year indeed, and many changes to the society were made. Here's to hoping for the best in 2020!

Next, agents are allowed to post scammers out of the schedule. Don't worry, though, the schedule remains untouched by this change. We will still be posting Agent Insights on Tuesdays, scammers on Thursdays, and Random Saturdays on Saturdays.

Next, the fun and games channel in the Discord server has been reopened for business! Games will rotate once every four days, so feel free to pop in to play!

Next, Gamma Blue has been promoted to the Sigma rank! Congrats Blue!

Next, the team event "The Search for Moku'ahi" is still underway. It is open for people to join in anytime!

Finally, we will be resuming the regular posting schedule in January. Thanks for being patient with us over the past month!

That's all the news for now. Stay safe and Jam on!
-Dew