Japanese Police Arrest Suspect for Selling Counterfeit Pokemon Cards Online

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Water Pokémon Master

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Yesterday police in Annaka City, Japan arrested a 21 year old suspect for selling fake Pokemon cards on an auction website.
According to the police, the suspect, Reo Otake, sold four counterfeit Pokemon cards to two customers in October 2022. The cards sold for 186,100 yen, which is equivalent to $1,250.
One of the customers learned the cards may be fake and alerted the police in November 2022. The police opened an investigation and asked Nintendo to appraise the cards; Nintendo confirmed the cards were counterfeit, thereby violating their trademarks.
In response to the police investigation, the suspect fully admitted to selling the counterfeit cards.
Yesterday the Annaka City Police seized 1,000 cards believed to be counterfeit from Otake’s home, including 400 Pokemon cards printed in...
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Take a good look at the cards that are being counterfeited, PCL. Very limited print, highly desired cards from years if not DECADES ago. Stuff like tournament prize Lillie, Mario and Luigi Pikachu, the Here Comes Team Rocket and Giovanni's Scheme full arts from the Team Rocket anniversary box, Crystal Charizard, etc. Some of these cards sell for four figures (USD) on the secondary market. So there's clearly money to be made from officially reprinting this kind of stuff, but nah.... let's leave that money on the table and go after counterfeits instead.
 
Frost said:
Take a good look at the cards that are being counterfeited, PCL. Very limited print, highly desired cards from years if not DECADES ago. Stuff like tournament prize Lillie, Mario and Luigi Pikachu, the Here Comes Team Rocket and Giovanni's Scheme full arts from the Team Rocket anniversary box, Crystal Charizard, etc. Some of these cards sell for four figures (USD) on the secondary market. So there's clearly money to be made from officially reprinting this kind of stuff, but nah.... let's leave that money on the table and go after counterfeits instead.
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i mean, the point of those cards are that they are rare, so they fetch for that price.
reprinting them defeats this purpose.
That being said, after all these years, they still don't know how to fake a crystal charizard with the proper hues and a proper foil pattern.
 
Nirvanna21 said:
Hello? TPCI? Are you there? Reprint cards, you get your money, collectors get the cards they want. The only ones who suffer going forward? Investors and scalpers.
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Frost said:
Take a good look at the cards that are being counterfeited, PCL. Very limited print, highly desired cards from years if not DECADES ago. Stuff like tournament prize Lillie, Mario and Luigi Pikachu, the Here Comes Team Rocket and Giovanni's Scheme full arts from the Team Rocket anniversary box, Crystal Charizard, etc. Some of these cards sell for four figures (USD) on the secondary market. So there's clearly money to be made from officially reprinting this kind of stuff, but nah.... let's leave that money on the table and go after counterfeits instead.
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Maybe I'm misunderstanding the points being made here, and maybe it boils down to differences in personal philosophy, but I don't understand the opposition to rare cards with limited prints. This is probably an unpopular take at the moment given the disastrous handling of a certain felt hat card but oh well. Part of the hobby's appeal is that some cards are just a lot more special than others. People get invested into the hobby because finding that one dream card or full collection of an expansion can take a lot of money, luck and effort. It's one of the main reasons these cards are popular at all.

I find the assumption that reprinting super rare cards would be an insane source of money for the Pokemon company kind of odd... like, no doubt a box or expansion with the Crystal Charizard in it would sell out instantly. But isn't that just another product for scalpers to hoard like crazy? And if that product is overproduced enough to the point where the scalpers can't make a profit, then it's probably not very profitable for TPC either. Not to mention the trust that would be lost by collectors who had bought the card at a high price beforehand, which includes a lot of the people who wanted that card the most in the first place.

Also... imo, reprinting tournament cards would be unfair to all the players who worked hard to win those cards in competitions and are still holding onto them. (Obviously plenty of investors and scalpers own these cards now but the point remains the same.) And how does one determine what prizes for competitions should be made easy to obtain? By price and demand? Does that mean Illustrator Pikachu should be reprinted? Where is the line drawn?

Again, this might just boil down to fundamental differences in values and personal philosophy, but personally, I don't believe that everything should be given away.

respectfully
 
Frost said:
Take a good look at the cards that are being counterfeited, PCL. Very limited print, highly desired cards from years if not DECADES ago. Stuff like tournament prize Lillie, Mario and Luigi Pikachu, the Here Comes Team Rocket and Giovanni's Scheme full arts from the Team Rocket anniversary box, Crystal Charizard, etc. Some of these cards sell for four figures (USD) on the secondary market. So there's clearly money to be made from officially reprinting this kind of stuff, but nah.... let's leave that money on the table and go after counterfeits instead.
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TPCi makes the same money selling you a holo rare or some crazy tournament prize, so I mean... not much to actually be made here.
 
damn maybe if people want retro cards this bad they should reprint them, like how Magic the Gathering has The List. Don't have to be exactly the same, mind most people won't care and that'll keep the original value
 
Shinxed3 said:
Maybe I'm misunderstanding the points being made here, and maybe it boils down to differences in personal philosophy, but I don't understand the opposition to rare cards with limited prints. This is probably an unpopular take at the moment given the disastrous handling of a certain felt hat card but oh well. Part of the hobby's appeal is that some cards are just a lot more special than others. People get invested into the hobby because finding that one dream card or full collection of an expansion can take a lot of money, luck and effort. It's one of the main reasons these cards are popular at all.

I find the assumption that reprinting super rare cards would be an insane source of money for the Pokemon company kind of odd... like, no doubt a box or expansion with the Crystal Charizard in it would sell out instantly. But isn't that just another product for scalpers to hoard like crazy? And if that product is overproduced enough to the point where the scalpers can't make a profit, then it's probably not very profitable for TPC either. Not to mention the trust that would be lost by collectors who had bought the card at a high price beforehand, which includes a lot of the people who wanted that card the most in the first place.

Also... imo, reprinting tournament cards would be unfair to all the players who worked hard to win those cards in competitions and are still holding onto them. (Obviously plenty of investors and scalpers own these cards now but the point remains the same.) And how does one determine what prizes for competitions should be made easy to obtain? By price and demand? Does that mean Illustrator Pikachu should be reprinted? Where is the line drawn?

Again, this might just boil down to fundamental differences in values and personal philosophy, but personally, I don't believe that everything should be given away.

respectfully
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The Pokemon company would make money because 90% of the user base would finally have reasonable access to cards they want. The sheer volume of people that would jump at legit reprints of older product would be insane. Take a look at YGO 25th anniversary. Lob, metal raiders, spell ruler, that went down a treat for everyone. I would love to open or access stuff like delta species without taking out a loan.

Investors and scalpers get the short end if this stick, both because there would be no money to be made by hoarding.
 
The counterfeit cards are probably all from AliExpress. I buy cards frequently from Japan and I always try to keep up to date on new counterfeit cards that are now all over Japanese auction sites and places like Mercari. It's crazy the amount of counterfeit cards that are now been replicated and actually how good they are, it's scary. I bought some counterfeit cards about 3 years ago to check the quality of them and what to look for, but back then, they never seemed to get the back of the cards the right colour, and the quality of card stock they used was an easy tell tale sign. I bought 2 more fakes about 4 months ago to check the quality, they are getting vey, very close to replicating the same quality, in pictures you wouldn't know but in person, you can tell the difference. Like I nearly got duped this week, a seller on Buyee was selling nearly all the Player's Ceremony and Celebration Fanfare cards. What I always do now is check what the seller is also listing, I do this because there are signs they are selling fake cards. When I checked their other items they had a lot of the English 1st Edition Charizard cards, Crystal cards, Mario Pikachu's and loads of the expensive girl trainer cards, which are clear tell tale signs they are probably fake. Also make sure to check the feedback rating.

It really annoys me that I have to check Aliexpress to see what cards they are making but it has saved me a few times. I only bought a few counterfeit cards just to check the quality and the things to look out for. If you are a big buyer in Japan, I would also recommend the same caution, so if you find a card you want to bid on, check if they are making them on AliExpress then also check the sellers other items to see if they are selling possibly more fakes. If I check out a seller that has multiple possible cards listed on Ali, then they are probably selling fakes.

Current counterfeit cards to look for:

Mario Pikachu, Luigi Pikachu, Eevee Hereos FA HR, Lottery Flareon Vaporeon Jolteon, Lillie promo and FA SR, Mewtwo SR HR Tournament promos, Mewtwo 25th Anniversary XY-P, Pikachu 2023 World Championships box promo, English Shining, Crystal, 1ST Base & E-Series, Art Academy XY-P Promos, Players Ceremony, Celebration Fanfare, Masked Royal, Stupid amount of girl trainers like Marnie, Iono, Mallow, Acerola and more, No 1, 2, 3 Trophy cards and SR FA cards like Giritina, Rayquaza and Lugia and the Munch Scream promos.
Charizard Cards - SR HR tournament promos, Shiny GX, 25th Anniversary, Illustration Book XY-P, Base set.
There are loads more but I just listed the expensive collectible cards.

I have tried to list as much as I can so you can see what cards are getting replicated. I hope the info I've provided will help you to avoid getting scammed in the future. Like I said, just give AliExpress a look over to see if any new cards are getting produced (Pikachu Grey Felt Hat incoming probably), and always check the sellers other items to see if they are selling cards from the list above. I hope no one falls victim to counterfeit fraud, stay safe and be alert!
 
Shouldn't have sold them at market value. A healthy proxy community does not exploit the ignorant.

Does this mean they will crack down on doujinshi as well? otherwise I'll put on my conspiracy hat and say that as a huge Japanese cultural export, the NPA is giving Pokémon preferential treatment (Now all I'm wearing is a hat, on account of all the doujin).
 
MarlinRimes said:
Next thing you know pikachu is gonna be a suspect on Law and Order
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In the Pokemon Trading Card Game, the fight against scammers and scalpers is represented by two different and equally important groups: The players who seek metagame staples, and the collectors who fight to pay fair price for their chases. These are their stories.

DUN DUN.
 
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