Thread:Chocbox AJ/@comment-40235005-20190813192749/@comment-40235005-20190813194213

Here is the text I would like to input below  ( i have put stars as users for privacy purposes.)


 * FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN SCAMMED IN ANIMAL JAM*

Okay so here's the deal.

In order to get my point across I'm gonna have to tell my AJ story.

My name is cheetah******. I joined in 2016 as a non-member. I never really encountered any bad things happening in AJ as a non-member apart from the usual amount of mild rule-breaking that comes with every game. No bullies, no hackers, no cheaters. Just average Jammers who could sometimes get a little rude or inappropriate.

But then, in December of 2018, I got my first membership that would last for 3 months. I was overjoyed.

By then, I had become a pretty experienced non-member Jammer with quite a good idea of how the game runs.

One thing I hadn't encountered yet: SCAMMERS.

When I activated my membership, my most valuable AJ possessions were a non-member spiked collar and wrist and a fair amount of RIMs. I wasn't much compared to the average non-member Jammer.

But one thing I did have was diamonds.

As a non-member I couldn't buy much with my diamonds, so they had just kept piling up in the hopes of using them on member animals someday.

Using the 38 diamonds I had built up as a non-member plus the diamonds that I was rewarded upon activating my membership, I went on an animal shopping spree, and purchased very member animal I had ever desired.

Soon after that, I ended up trading away my non-member spiked collar for a member one, and before I knew it, all the RIMs that I had valued so much as a non-member seemed like nothing compared to what I had.

The time came when my membership expired and I took a year-long break from Animal Jam, unable to bring myself to play as a non-member after experiencing the luxury of membership.

In the summer of 2019, I got my second membership, which was also for 3 months. I logged onto AJ for the first time in almost a year. I am still currently running on that membership and it will expire in the first week of September.

And this is when the REAL trouble began.

In around June, I was just hanging out in Jamaa Township looking for fun events to attend when I saw a non-member koala in a freedom top hat saying: "FASHION SHOW MY DEN. WINNER GETS SPIKE."

Now, by this time, I was SUPER rich, and I mean SUPER.

I had five of those diamond (some rare also) spiked collars and a bad short wrist. Nerds, den and clothing betas, and more were all things that I possessed.

So, I was just about to go to that "WINNER GETS SPIKE" fashion show when I got a Jam-A-Gram from my sister asking for some help with a trade deal. I clicked on the fashion show host's name tag and saw that his user was oof11234.

Memorizing the user, I quickly hurried over to my sister's aid, got her the trade deal, and returned to oof11234's den for the fashion show.

By then, there were only 2 contestants left, but both of them didn't seem dressed up for any theme, but rather they seemed to be trading the host.

I quickly looked at oof11234's list and saw only necklaces. One of the contestants (a member named leafy**** ) saying, "Imma trade my spike. Will that give me the win?"

"Yes. And I will also give u back ur spike and the promised prize spike" oof11234 replied.

I suddenly realized what was going on. This wasn't a fashion show, it was a trust giveaway! And leafy**** was just about to get scammed!

Doing some quick thinking, I clicked on the owner's player card and saw that he didn't even have to supposed "prize spike" on his trade list. He probably didn't even have a spike. This was probably someone's backup account used just for scamming.

I was proved right with some more research only to find that he had almost no achievements or possessions, and he didn't have any animals other than that horrid koala. These were all obviously telling me that leafy**** was about to be scammed of her only spike!!

Without a second of further hesitation I screamed in caps lock: "DON'T DO IT IT'S A SCAM!!!!"

But it was too late. The trade icon had already popped up over leafy**** 's head. It faded away. The trade was complete.

oof11234 made a smiley emoji and then wrote: "leafy wins!"

But leafy didn't seem to care that she had won. She was screaming at the top of her lungs "GIVE IT BACK RIGHT NOW!!!!!!"

oof11234 gave one last smiley emoji before my screen decided to load and the message I was dreading popped up: "The den you were in has been locked."

I ended up in an empty Coral Canyons with leafy**** and one other Jammer that had been at oof11234's den.

Without even thinking, I went to leafy****'s den, in which she popped up next to me after a second and immediately said "This is the fifth time I have been scammed. I'm quitting AJ."

But before I could even type out a retorting response, another Jammer by the name of "laiba****" popped up next to both of us.

"Leafy! U were scammed again! Why did u do trust?" laiba**** said.

"Laiba it's okay. I'm quitting AJ so it doesn't matter anyway." leafy said.

"All u lost was a spike! U can get that back!!" I pointed out desperately.

"Ye." laiba**** agreed.

"But it was my favorite spike that my BFF gave me. It's irreplaceable." leafy**** said.

She went on to tell us all the reasons why she wanted to quit and each word only made me feel worse and worse for her.

Apparently, this was leafy's fifth time being scammed at a trust giveaway.

I asked her why she would do trust again after being scammed four times before and she replied "Because I have done trust before and gotten my items back."

And all this time I was thinking "I'd never be dumb enough to do trust."

And boi, was I wrong.

Finally laiba****, who seemed to be really good friends with leafy****, gifted leafy a new spike and convinced her not to quit. I buddied both of them and promised to keep in touch. Then I logged off. That was more than enough AJ trash for one day.

About a week after my encounter with leafy, I saw a black member arctic wolf named "velleitie" advertising for a trust giveaway. I quickly went to her den, with the intention of stopping more people from ending up like leafy.

However, this Jammer was a member with many achievements, items and animals. She seemed rich and unlikely to be a scammer.

As soon as she arrived, people bombarded her with the question: " IS THIS TRUST?"

Calmly, velleitie answered by saying: "Yes but it will be fair and just. The prize is a blue long spiked collar."

Immediately I said: "Can I watch pls?"

Velleitie replied: "Absolutely. Please buddy me."

I shot her a buddy request before sitting down and waiting for her to explain the rules. So far to me it seemed unlikely to be a scam, so I didn't start warning people just yet.

"Don't worry. None of you have to accept any of the trust trades. You can decline. The person with the best decline wins the long. However, u r allowed to accept but it is not necessary." velleitie said.

Before she could say anything else, people started bombarding velleitie with trade requests.

Someone named Størmii was winning by far when she declined several good shorts.

Finally, everyone got tired of trying to beat Størmii, who was winning by far. Soon, it was just me and Størmii.

"Cheetah, r u sure u don't want to play? Cuz Størmii's just about won. You can decline." velleitie said finally.

"Well... Ill do it, but I will decline." I answered, thinking "What could go so wrong if I decline?"

"That's fine." velleitie replied. She seemed very nice and almost all doubt I had about her being a scammer was gone.

I traded five spikes, nerds, and three clothing betas for a necklace to velleitie and immediately declined.

"That ties u with Størmii!" velleitie said. "Hmmmm. Lets see how to settle this."

After a moment, velleitie said "I know! Whoever accepts the trade wins! Accepting is worth more points than declining."

Within seconds, Størmii had traded an orange short to velleitie and accepted. A heartbeat later, velleitie traded back the short and Størmii thought she had won the blue long without being scammed.

"Cheetah... If u accept ur offer, u win. If not Størmii wins. U know I'm not a scammer cuz I just gave Størmii her orange short back." velleitie reasoned.

I thought for a moment. Orange shorts were pretty rare and velleitie gave Størmii hers back. Should I trust?.....

I came up with an idea. "velleitie, I will trade my most junky spike to u and accept. U should immediately give it back. I will do my entire declined offer in chunks one at a time." I said and velleitie agreed.

I traded my most worthless spike, accepted and got it back immediately. Feeling my trust beginning to grow, I slowly began doing 2-3 items at a time so finally I had traded my whole declined list in chunks and gotten it all back.

Clicking a smiley emoji, I said: "I am glad I trusted u velleitie. Now I have won. Pls gift me the blue long u promised me."

velleitie smiled back but immediately said. "Sorry, but in order to win the long, u must do ur entire offer in one trade and accept."

Now this seemed kinda fishy so I started rethinking everything. I had accepted everything on my list in tiny chunks and gotten it back. Now why did she want me to accept the entire thing in one trade? So I  went with my gut feeling and said "Erm.... Nty I have had bad experiences with trust giveaways" (by that I meant what had happened with leafy****)

And then, very sweetly, velleitie said: "That's okay. U don't have to do it if u don't want to. I understand. However this means that Størmii wins!"

I immediately felt regret. I tried to convince myself that velleitie wasn't a scammer because she hadn't even pushed it when I decided not to accept.

Okay, look. I didn't have any real shorts-- only diamond spikes, which I now know aren't exactly worth a lot. And I really wanted a long. That blue spike on velleitie's neck looked really tempting...

"WAIT!" I yelled suddenly. "I will do my list and accept."

velleitie made a smiley emoji before saying: "Bad is on. If u trade this, u win!"

Before I knew what I was doing or even had time to think it through, I had traded five spikes, three clothing betas, and nerds for a stupid freedom cat hat. This was my entire three years of hard AJ work and trading.

As soon as the trade went through, I said: "VELLEITIE!! GIVE IT BACK RIGHT NOW OR I SWEAR..."

But before I could even hit "enter" on my keyboard, velleitie wrote "Cheetah wins! :-D"

I smiled back but then quickly continued yelling at her to give the stuff back.

"VELLEITIE! HOW DARE U!" I screamed. But then...

(Loading...) "The den you were in has been locked."

I immediately burst into screaming tears. That list that I had traded to her literally included every GOOD item I had (save for an extra flower crown worth a den beta :3)

I Jam-A-Grammed leafy**** (who had now become a good buddy of mine) to tell her that I had been scammed too. I also Jam-A-Grammed Størmii but she had logged off (and I never ended up hearing back from her anyway.)

Desperately, I went to the online AJ Help Center and sent an email to AJHQ begging for them to ban velleitie and to return my items.

After that, I patiently waited for a reply (and did not play AJ because I was absolutely horrified by the kind of people that were on this game. Y'all, you have to understand I ACTUALLY WANTED TO QUIT.)

(Another note to everyone reading this: REPORT VELLEITIE FOR SCAMMING AND THEN BLOCK HER!)

After a little, I got back an email saying these exact words (I copy/pasted.)

Ticket #5028818: Got scammed

Customer Service, Jul 18, 8:08 AM PDT:

Hi,

We are very sorry to hear that you lost your items in Animal Jam. Please rest assured we have highly trained moderators who are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week that actively monitor Jammer activities in Jamaa and review all reports that come in from Jammers just like you. Any Jammers engaging in unfair trading, as well as other inappropriate behavior, is not allowed. If a Jammer is found to be in violation of the Animal Jam rules, a moderator will take appropriate action on their account.

Sadly, we are unable to return items that are lost due to unsafe trading practices such as cross trading, account sharing, or trust trading.

All players can keep their items safe by reviewing and following the Animal Jam Rules.

Remember to only trade for items that you really want and not for the promise of other items in a future trade.

We truly appreciate you taking the time to let us know about this incident. As mentioned before, if a Jammer is found to be breaking the Animal Jam rules, a moderator will take swift and appropriate action on their account.

Sincerely,

Mika L.

Animal Jam HQ

I felt infuriated. WHY WAS I NOT GETTING MY STUFF BACK??!!

After a few more emails back and forth with AJHQ, I finally understood why.

When you first make your AJ account, it asks you to review the Terms & Policies/Rules of AJ.

When I made my account and I got that to that part (I don't know about you but for me...) I just thought, "What the heck? I'm not going to do anything bad on AJ." So I just waved it aside and clicked accept without even reading the rules.

But that was my mistake.

Because... You know what? Let me just screenshot it from the AJ Rules.



Yeah, you're reading that correctly. Whether you are scamming or not, whether you are being scammed or not; IF YOU PARTICIPATE IN TRUST TRADING AT ALL (even if you trade it back) YOU ARE BREAKING THE AJ RULES AND AJ IS ALLOWED TO BAN YOU.

It doesn't matter even if velleitie wouldn't have scammed me.

We still would have both been breaking the AJ Rules by doing trust.

An AJHQ isn't exactly going to give you your items back after you lost them by doing ILLEGAL trading.

So I apologized to AJHQ for breaking the rules, explaining that I didn't even KNOW that rule.

Here's what I wrote:

Dear AJHQ,

Please mark this issue as resolved. Trust trading is illegitimate on Animal Jam and so this request is invalid. I now understand as the prior emails were confusing me until I read the Animal Jam Rules.

I am sorry that I participated in trust trading as I did not know that it was illegal. In fact, this was my first time participating in trust trading and I assure you it was my last. In fact now, whenever I even see someone advertising for a trust giveaway, I will try to go in and even stop other innocent jammers from participating and I will tell them they are breaking the AJ rules. I understand that it is my fault for losing my items.

However, I do hope that you take appropriate and speedy action on the scammer's account like you said you would as I do not want them to continue scamming and make Jamaa an unsafe place and I do want them to learn a lesson for their bad choices.

Thank you sincerely for your time AJHQ and sorry once again.

-cheetah******

And this is when I decided I needed to help other Jammers before the same thing that happened to me and leafy****  happened to them.

But how, exactly, to do this?

I pondered over this for a little.

And suddenly, I had an idea.

The next day, I logged onto AJ and immediately went to Jamaa Township. Before I even knew what I was doing I had typed: IF U HVE BEEN SCAMMED OR WANT TO HELP PEOPLE WHO WERE SCAMMED, COME TO MY DEN.

Within a minute or two, I had three Jammers in my den.

Their names were Cutie***, Nerdyb***y00 and Re**ch.

I quickly explained what had happened to me and that I wanted to help other Jammers so that they didn't end up scammed like me.

I told them that I was starting an association called the ASA: Anti-Scam Association, and that they could be my first three members (if they agreed to join.)

Cutie*** and Nerdyb***y00 and Re**ch immediately agreed to join and buddied me.

After that, I Jam-A-Grammed leafy**** and laiba**** asking them to join. They responded with a definite yes.

I continued to find new members, and about a week into the process, I started training all current members for what I called "scam hunts".

This means that all ASA members who are currently online meet at ASA headquarters, (my sister's den) and have a brief discussion before splitting up and going into different Jamaa worlds.

Once one of us locates a trust giveaway, they go to it and Jam-A-Gram the rest of the members to let them know that they have found an illegal trust giveaway.

Using the follow feature, we all eventually usher each other to the giveaway, and usually by that time it has started. Then, we all make our animals hop and say things like: TRUST TRADING IS AGAINST THE AJ RULES, and: EVERYBODY HERE IS NOT FOLLOWING THE AJ RULES BY PARTICIPATING IN TRUST TRADING. If the giveaway has not started yet, we do chants in caps lock such as: LOCK IT! LOCK IT! LOCK IT! to stop it before it even starts.

From there on, the ASA just kept on expanding. Before I knew it, we have over 16 members.

However, the kind of hate we were getting during scam hunts just kept on getting worse.

When we tried to stop the giveaways (meaning disrupt them by telling everyone to go away :3) people used to call us dodos, scream at us mean things, telling us to "GO AWAY BC NOBODY LIKES U."

We were getting locked out within the first minute of the protest. People were saying: "if u don't like trust giveaways, why don't u just leave and let us do what we want to?"

But the problem was, I was trying to save other Jammers, not save myself.

Finally the hate got so bad that members of the ASA started telling me that they were worried about getting in trouble. The owners of the giveaways were threatening to get us in trouble for disrupting them.

When the worried ASA members confronted me, I told them not to worry and that I was ready to solve the problem. Then I logged off of AJ and got to work.

Within half an hour I had sent an email to AJHQ. This is how it went.

Hello AJHQ.

Recently, after being scammed in an illegal trust trade, I have started an association called the ASA: meaning, the Anti-Scam Association. We currently have over 16 members and counting at a rate of about three new members daily.

Since this association is rapidly growing, I would like to have your approval before we continue doing what we do any farther.

Every day, I log on to animal jam for about 30 minutes to do work for the ASA. Some days, that means recruiting and training new ASA members or spreading awareness about the danger and illegality of trust giveaways. Believe it or not, almost 90% of Jammers have never bothered to read the AJ rules thoroughly and carefully, and some have never read them at all.

Most days however, doing work for the ASA means doing what we call "scam hunts". This means that all ASA members who are currently online meet at ASA headquarters, and have a brief discussion before splitting up and going into different Jamaa worlds.

Once one of us locates a trust giveaway, they go to it and Jam-A-Gram the rest of the members to let them know that they have found an illegal trust giveaway.

Using the follow feature, we all eventually usher each other to the giveaway, and usually by that time it has started. Then, we all make our animals hop and say things like: TRUST TRADING IS AGAINST THE AJ RULES, and: EVERYBODY HERE IS NOT FOLLOWING THE AJ RULES BY PARTICIPATING IN TRUST TRADING. If the giveaway has not started yet, we do chants in caps lock such as: LOCK IT! LOCK IT! LOCK IT! to stop it before it even starts.

We know this activity is considered a disruption but we are doing it for a good purpose. If AJHQ does not approve of this association we will immediately and gladly stop.

Please let me know if you would like the list of Jammers participating in the ASA or any other info.

Thank you for your time and help!!

-cheetah******, head of the ASA

A day later I received a response reading:

Hi cheetah******!

Thank you for contacting us.

We are happy to have Jammers like you who care about Animal Jam and want to help us keep Jamaa a safe place.

We greatly appreciate all your effort. Please rest assured, we have highly trained moderators who are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If any Jammers are engaging in inappropriate behavior or found to be in violation of the Animal Jam rules, a moderator will take appropriate action on their account.

In the meantime, the best way to report a player who is being mean or breaking the rules is by using the in-game report system.

To do this, click on the Player Card and click the button that looks like a police badge. After that, just follow the instructions that pop up to submit the report. You also have the option to block them so you never see their chat again.

Our moderators constantly monitor Jammer activities in-game and review all reports submitted by players. Note that any accounts found to submit false reports may be subject to disciplinary actions.

If you have any other concerns or feedback, please feel free to email us again.

Sincerely,

Jannel R.

Animal Jam HQ

Here's what I wrote back:

Hello AJHQ!

Thank you so much for your prompt reply.

However, I do have a few more questions.

1. Does this mean you are approving the existence of the ASA?

2. We as ASA members do report the scammer as our first action, but most of the time, we have noticed a trend that shows that most scammers are using their backup accounts to scam so their real accounts won't be banned. Because of that, we also try to disrupt the giveaway/ scam to stop it, because banning the player after they scam will not stop innocent Jammers from being scammed.

If this means official approval, please let me know, as all ASA members are very hard working and have been trained well. The ASA members are working to stop scams when they could be doing something else and they would love to hear that their hard work paid off and we have officially been approved!

Thank you so much for everything AJHQ!!

-cheetah******, head of the ASA

Within an hour, I heard back from AJHQ.

Hi cheetah******,

Those are some really terrific ideas! We will pass them onto the team. We're happy to hear that you are interested in making Animal Jam a better place!

If you see someone that needs help, go for it. Also remember, if you see someone breaking the rules, don't be afraid to send in a Player Report! Thanks for helping to make Jamaa a better place. Have fun, be safe, and play wild!

We hope this helps. If you need any further assistance, please feel free to contact us again!

Sincerely,

Mika L.

Animal Jam HQ

That was all I needed. I logged back onto AJ, and Jam-A-Grammed all ASA members about the good news. The ASA had officially been approved by AJHQ.

There was no way we could get in trouble now. AJHQ approved of what we were doing an had told us to "go for it!"

I assured all ASA members that we no longer needed to be worried about being reported and banned/suspended. I had made AJHQ aware of what we were doing and they had approved of it!

However, all ASA members would still be name-called and hated on no matter what. They just had to be strong and bear it through to save other Jammers.

And here's the deal. Being an official AJHQ-approved association, 16 members is not enough. I want to expand even more!

And that's exactly why I'm writing this article. I need more members.

If you are interested in joining the ASA (be prepared to take the teasing), please shoot me a Jam-A-Gram to the user sweetie913 saying: I would like to join the association.

(MAKE SURE TO SEND IT TO SWEETIE913)

If you are non-member and cannot type Jam-A-Grams, send me a Jam-A-Gram saying: Thanks for playing with me!

Again, be prepared to stay strong when the haters hate.

If you Jam-A-Gram me letting me know you would like to join, I will most likely send you a buddy request the day after (if I still have my membership running then it will take a day. If it has expired by then, it may take up to a week for me to respond :3)

Thank you if you decide to join, as you are showing hard work and dedication towards making AJ a safer place.

I also want to give a HUGE thank-you to all current ASA members.

(By the way, we also have ASA parties in my beach house den with games and more fun things! It's not just all work :-D)

Also, thank you to everyone who took the time to read this article (I know it's lengthy :3).

And I'll see ya later! Hope you decide to join the ASA.

-cheetah******