Pokemon TCG players concerned with increase of “gross” fake card resellers

The reselling market was always a dangerous place for new Pokemon TCG players looking to get their hands on selected cards. However, there seems to be a concerning increase in scam cases lately.

Pokemon TCG has an enormous trove of rare and valuable cards to collect, and players are always on the lookout for them on the online reselling markets. This often spells trouble, since reselling web stores and similar sites is not a guarantee of safety. Not to mention Discord communities or Reddit forums.

And lately, the cases where players get scammed by resellers are on the rise, making the already torn-by-scalpers Pokemon TCG community shiver at the mere thought of getting a fake prized card. What’s worse, the scammers seem to be evolving into professional forgers, and they are even recreating Hyper Rare and SIR cards with almost 100% fidelity.

Players also report that some shops that often resell cards are recurring to mix in fakes or proxy‘s with official products, without a warning notice. This wouldn’t trick the trained eye of the expert Pokemon TCG player, but could very well fool novices or casual players trying to complete their first sets.

Needless to say, players are furious with these dirty tactics: “Selling fake cards is slimy to begin with, but then to: (A) not disclose they’re custom/fake/proxy, and (B) charge for a single card 3X what you can buy a pack of 50 of them for online,” expressed angrily the whistleblower.

But, online shopping is not the only source of the counterfeit cards epidemic. Players can fall victim to various types of scams in random shops and hobby stores, like this case where a trainer bought a Shiny Treasures ex box, and discovered it was filled with Chinese Magic: The Gathering packs.

“Definitely not the shiny treasures I was hoping for. It was like 5,000 yen which is a little cheaper than pokemon msrp so that should’ve ticked me off but I just thought it was cause of trouble moving inventory,” stated the victim of the Chinese card scam.

So, next time you are shopping, be it online or in person, make sure to purchase from a trusted source. Like genning in the Pokemon video games, fake cards are out there, waiting to be picked by trusty players. So watch out for scams, and if you’re in doubt, you can check all the info about the best cards here.