How to Keep Your Items Safe

Our job at the JPD is to prevent people from getting scammed/hacked and keep people's accounts safe. Unfortunately, we can't do everything to make sure you are safe, so follow these tips and tricks on how to keep your account and items safe.

What is a scam?

A scam is where another jammer tricks you or a group of jammers into giving them items in exchange for pretty much nothing.

What is a hack?

A hack is where another jammer gets your password and logs into your account, taking items, deleting buddies, and maybe even changing your password if they have access to your parent dashboard. The worst part about hacking is you'll never know who did it unless you find somebody with all your items, which there are over 100 million accounts in Animal Jam. That's why preventing hacking is very important.

Scamming Prevention Tips and Tricks

How to Tell if You're Getting Scammed

People get scammed because they might not know you're being scammed. Scamming comes in many ways, but the first and most obvious way you can tell if you are getting scammed is that they will ask you to do something you normally wouldn't do to trade for an item (example: they will ask you to trade a good item in return for a bad item and they will give you an even better item if you do, but they just run with the item you gave them). Another way to tell you're getting scammed is if you will be in a situation where the scammer has your item and you didn't get anything of equal value in return. Even if they claim they will give you something after that, they will not. If you will be in that place, it's best to NOT fall for it and hopefully tell it's a scam. The last big reason you can tell you're probably about to get scammed is if you go to a giveaway. As inviting as it seems, giveaways are a big no if you want to avoid getting scammed. A way to tell if a giveaway is a scam is if the giveaway is a trust trade. A trust trade is when you're in a position where you will trade a valuable item for a bad item, and the other jammer claims to give you an even better item after you do that. In this case, the jammer claims to give you the giveaway prize. But they won't. Even if they have the prize on their trade list, they will not- BY ANY MEANS, give you that prize. Another way to tell if a giveaway is a scam is if it's hosted by a nonmember with hardly any achievements or pets that has a valuable item as the giveaway prize. That means the giveaway is hosted by a storage account so when they get banned, their main account won't be banned. I'm not saying all giveaways that are scams are hosted by storage accounts, but if the scammer is smart enough to use one, then yes, they will. Finally, TRUST YOUR GUT! Think about it: If you were the person giving away their items or trying to trade you something, wouldn't it be easiest to trade directly? Also, if you have ever been a victim of the "I got banned from trading, so gift me and I'll gift you back" scam, just know if you get banned from gifting/trading, you'll get banned from both.

What to do if You Spot a Scam/Have Been Scammed

The best thing to do when you spot a scam is to write down the scammer's username, write down the date and time you spotted the scam, take a picture/video of the scam happening, write down who got scammed (including you if you got scammed), write down where it took place (including the world name), and this is optional, but gather the group of people that got scammed and ask them all what they lost. Then write it down. After that, report the person that scammed and block them. Tell everybody else to do the same. Send this info to AJHQ by email, and they will hopefully recover everybody's items. If you have seen somebody that got scammed, ask them the following questions: Do you know the person that scammed you? What is their username? Did anybody else get scammed? What did you lose? Where did you get scammed? When did you get scammed? Do you have any proof of the scam? Write down all that information and send it to AJHQ by email.

How to Prevent Being Scammed

Scamming can be easily prevented by following these simple tricks:

• Don't go to any giveaways. As inviting as it seems, giveaways will most likely be a trick. A very bad mistake jammers make is thinking giveaways will make them rarer. Even if giveaways aren't a scam, most of the time, you won't win anything. Most giveaways are scams. If you do win anything from a giveaway, it won't be any good items at all, because who would give away their nice rare item? The better option to win prizes are fashion shows, but some fashion shows could still be scams, so watch out.
• Don't go to trust trade parties. These are always scams and they aren't any fun, just chaos. Trust trade parties will never end without somebody getting scammed.
• Report and block people that look like they are scamming. Read the rules from "How to Tell if You're Getting Scammed" for more info.
• Before you trade, ask multiple friends and look up the value of the item you're trading. If the person trading you is offering an item of lower value and says that the item they are offering you is worth your item, decline the trade, report them, block them, and follow the rules from "What to do if You Spot a Scam/Have Been Scammed".
• An easy way to prevent scamming is to write down/make a mental note of someone's username before a trade. This won't stop it altogether, but it is a good thing to do before any trade.
• Do not trade in any way that avoids traditional methods of trading, like "gift and I'll gift back" or "trade me something good, I will accept, then trade you something good".

Hacking Prevention Tips and Tricks

How to Tell if You're Being Hacked

If you're being hacked, you may have trouble playing on Animal Jam because you keep getting logged out. That's a sign that a hacker has your password and is repeatedly logging in on your account while you are playing. Another sign you are being hacked is that your buddies, items, dens, pets, etc. are going missing. This means a hacker is logging on to your account and deleting your things. While this may be obvious, a sign that you are being hacked is if you can't login because you are banned, suspended, or your password is incorrect, but you didn't do anything. That means a hacker has been on your account, and either changed your password or said/did things to ban you.

What to Do if You Spot a Hack/Have Been Hacked

If you have been hacked, you should email AJHQ, change your password, and lock your account through the parent dashboard so the hacker can't get in. If the hacker has your parent dashboard info, email AJHQ and play AJ on your storage account so you can observe what's going on with your main account. On your storage, you should start gathering up rares just in case the hacker steals your rares on your account. That way, when you have access to your main account again, you have something to start off with.  Another important thing you should do on your storage account is tell all your buddies you're being hacked and if the hacker says or does anything, it's not you. That's a tip to not lose any friends! If you spot somebody being hacked, sadly, there's no way to tell who's hacking them, but you can email AJHQ that you're friend's being hacked, and that's all you can pretty much do about it. If you have a way to contact your friend besides in-game, then tell them they're being hacked and that you emailed AJHQ.

How to Prevent Being Hacked

• Have a secure password that you can remember and a hacker can't guess.
• Have one or two backup accounts with rares and goods just in case you lose your main account forever. Make sure your backup accounts have a completely different username and password then your main, or else the hacker could find your backup and hack it too!
• Lock your account using the parent dashboard whenever you log off, or if you feel like you are being targeted by a hacker (see "How to Tell if You're Being Hacked"). Unless the hacker has access to your parent dashboard, the hacker will only be able to hack you when you're online.
• Keep a list of your buddies. If a hacker deletes any of your buddies, you'll still have their username and you will be able to buddy them again on your storage or your main account.