How to Avoid Being Scammed on Animal Jam

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Intro: How to Avoid Being Scammed on Animal Jam

On the massively multiplayer online video game Animal Jam (created by National Geographic Society and Smart Bomb Interactive), a process called "scamming" is quite popular among players. This Instructable will show you how to avoid being scammed while playing the game.

STEP 1: Know What "scamming" Means.

"Scamming" is essentially when a player tries to trick another player into giving them an item, a code, or any personal information.

STEP 2: Recognize Scamming.

There are a few "key phrases" that scammers use to trick others. Here are several:

"Gift me." This refers to sending a user an item through a Jam-A-Gram. Only members can send and receive items, so nonmembers are not involved in this method. Normally, Jammers will use a reason like "It's my b-day" to lure others into the 'gifting trap.'

"Giveaway." Many Jammers, mainly nonmembers, will ask other players to come to their dens for a giveaway. In an average giveaway, one Jammer will tell others that whoever gives them the best trade for a poor-quality item will be later sent a highly sought-after item (normally a rare or BETA). Often, the host of the giveaway will accept a good trade for one of their poor items and never give another Jammer the item they were promised. It is very rare that a Jammer will actually stay true to their words in a giveaway.

"Mailtime." A common AJ YouTube video format is "mailtime," when Jammers ask to be sent items and use a screen recorder to show viewers what kinds of items they are sent. Although this is not actually tricking Jammers, as participating in a Jammer's "mailtime" is completely voluntary, sending anything to another player will result in you not owning an item any longer. If you don't want to lose your items, stay away from mailtimes.

STEP 3: Avoid Scammers.

You can't "avoid" scammers, but you can ignore them so that you are never scammed. Make sure to remember the few major scamming methods mentioned previously, and if you ever see one of them "in action," don't do whatever the scammer is asking Jammers to do.

STEP 4: Knowing How to React to Scammers.

If you do happen to come across a scammer, don't treat them badly or draw attention to them. The best thing to do is click on their nametag so that their user card appears. Click on the "Report Player" badge in the bottom right corner of the card, and select the option "Scamming!" on the menu that appears. After you click "report," a popup will appear, asking if you want to block the player. Blocking a player will prevent their chat messages from appearing. Although blocking them is not necessary, it is always a good choice.

STEP 5: Overview

That's all for this Instructable. If you have any questions, or know another scamming method that was not mentioned, feel free to tell me in the comments. I'd appreciate any input I can get! Thank you for reading, and good luck on AJ! Jam on!

7 Comments

This is a great instructable to avoid getting scammed, although when you explained what it means when someone is having a "Giveaway", it doesn't necessarily mean that the giveaway will involve sending the scammer items to win a specific one... I suggest going to their den to watch first. Then, if the scammer says something like "whoever gifts the best wins" or "whoever trades me the best wins" then it is definitely not safe. But, if the jammer says something that does not involve giving them items, then it is then probably safe since you aren't risking the items you worked hard on gaining.

All I'm saying is, not all giveaways are necessarily bad, you just gotta watch out for anything that involves giving them items, thus not putting your items at risk.

I've made a lot of great friends through fun giveaways and I've won highly valued items through them, and I don't want you guys to miss out on these great experiences. All I can say is, enter giveaways with caution at first, then it's your choice to believe if it's safe or not.

Thank you so much for reading this small little note, and have fun trading on AJ!

-Zoob

I got scammed my black long yesterday lolz im not scamming but if ya wanna plz donate im zachary267

Yep I Agree Because I Have Got Banned Just Because I Got Hacked And Scammed :( Im Still Sad :(

This is great! I was actually scammed once. Someone asked me to try a heart locket necklace. Me being a younger self, I gave the person that item, then I asked for it back and they vanished somewhere else.

I used to play AnimalJam, and as a member, everyone thought "hey, she has a lot of stuff! Better scam her!" But in all actuality, I only owned a few items. This is why. Great way to avoid scamming, and wonderful tips=)