Avoiding Scamming

You've seen scammers, right? Well, of course you have. But here's a list of how scammers try to trick you into giving your items to them. 

The most common way, is solo scamming. Solo scamming is when a scammer tries to trick you on their own. However, this also means that they have no backup plan if they are busted from scamming. This also makes their scamming less believable because nobody is there to confirm that they are not a scammer (other than themselves). Solo scammers may also use backup accounts to avoid getting banned.

Another way is using scam teams. Scam teams require a lot of trust, not because they are going to trust trade (they usually fake it anyways) but because at any moment, someone from the team could reveal the fact that they're scamming. Scamming teams usually consist of two, if not, more people. Here's an example of how it works.

If the scammer doing the trick says, 'I decline all!' then his or her scamming partner/s could say, 'It's true! He/she declined my [insert combination of extremely rare items]!' 

Basically, the main scammer does a trick, and their partner/s tries to persuade people that they're not scamming (when they actually are). This way, people are led to believe that it is safe to trust the scammer, but then the scammer runs away. It is also the more successful way of scamming. Here's a list of all the tricks I've seen.

1. I decline all.

This is pretty much straight forward. The scammer has a bad item on trade, and tells other people that they will not accept under any circumstances. They will usually accept good items, then run away or log off.

2. If you gift me good, you win my [insert rare item that everyone wants].

This method only works for members, whether it be the victim or the scammer since only members can accept gifts and non members can't send gifts since the Fman incident. The victim sends a relatively good item, then the scammer runs away or logs off.

3. Gift for gift!

This is sort of like the previous scam (only for members - victim or scammer), except the scammer claims that they gift back to everyone who gifts them. Sometimes, it's not a scam, but you still have to watch out.

4. Gift me those rare items, and I'll trade you my rare item.

This one is basically a no-brainer, BECAUSE THERE'S A TRADE SYSTEM. ALWAYS say no, even if it's a really close friend, unless you want to lose your items.

5. Trust trading.

This is basically the same as the 'I decline all' because it requires a great amount of trust. The scammer usually says no to good items at first, which makes the victim think that they're trust-able so they trade more rare items. The scammer eventually runs away or logs off.

6. Trust me.

No, this is not the same as trust trading, because the scammer builds your trust with them as you bond. When they think you trust them, they'll say something like 'Hey, can I borrow that item for a moment? It's so my friend can see it on one of my animals. I'll return it once I'm done.' There are two ways this could end. a) The victim could become suspicious and say no if they don't have enough trust, or b) The victim trusts the scammer and gives them the item. The scammer then runs off.

7. Flash me!

The scammer will usually ask you to flash them for more than hive/five seconds, because that's the amount of time it takes for the accept/decline button to appear. Don't flash them. Rarely, the scammer has an engine called 'Auto Accept' which allows them to take your item before the accept/decline button pops up.

8. Come to my den, put your mouse on the pillow and close your eyes. Keep on clicking it.

This doesn't work anymore, but I figured I should still tell you. This scam only worked before the update when AJHQ made you accept twice (accept/decline > accept > are you sure you want to accept the trade? > accept) to receive the items. The scammer would place a pillow or another object where the accept button was in their den, ask you to stand somewhere special, and ask you to keep clicking the den item. They will trade you something bad for the rare on your trade list and you would accept the trade unwillingly.

9. Trade me that for my necklace, and I'll trade you my rare item.

As straight forward as the first one, you trade them your rares when they say they'll trade you another rare item if you trade them your rares for a necklace.

10. Member Account

Someone will give you a member account's username and password and you will most likely transfer all your goodies onto that account because it's a member account. Since the person who gave you the account information still has the email that it's connected to as well as its password, they will log onto that account and take all your rares while you're logged off.

11. Membership Code

I have personally experienced this, though I wasn't scammed in any way. Someone will tell you that they have a 'spare membership code' then invite you to their den. They will probably do something like the following, 'Hi, I have a spare membership code. If you want it, you need to give me your account password so I can enter the code into your account.' If you fall for it, they'll go onto your account, take all the rares then log off. These types of scammers will usually target people with good rares.

Those are all the scam tactics that I've seen, though there are many more but are basically the same. The scammers might use different ways to set the scene, such as 'giveaway for my list' then use one of the above tactics. I tried not to include too many which were the same concept so it didn't waste too much page space. I might add screenshots later.

This page is NOT intended for scammers to scam more people. Do NOT use the above tactics to scam and do NOT ever try to scam under any circumstances. Remember, be a jammer, NOT a scammer!

-elli