This week police in Annaka City, Japan seized 1,000 ♊counterfeit trading cards from a 21 year old who had previously been caught selling fakes. Among the haul included around 400 English and Japanese Pokemon cards that police believe the suspect intended to sell. Previously, the man had sold four fake Pokemon cards to customers in October 2022, raking in a cool $1,250. His victims contacted police, who worked with Nintendo to verify the cards were fake, giving police reasonable suspicion to search the sellers home and seize what is believed to be what we call in the streets ‘a big ol’ mess of fakes’.

This seizure follows a recent announcement from Creature Inc. that promised the coꦛmpany would be cracking down on fake cards being sold online. “The production and sale of these products for the purpose of profit interferes with the normal provision of Pokemon card game products and services,” the statement says. “We will take measures to suspend sales and take legal action in cooperation with the operat𒀰ing company of the sales service platform.”

This is obviously great news. No one wants to be duped into paying hundreds for counterfeit cards, and Creatures Inc. has a responsibility to ensure its customers aren’t at risk, even when it comes to the secondary market. And while counterfeit Pokemon cards aren’t a widespread issue these days, at least when it comes to English cards, that wasn’t always the case. You may not 🐭want to hear this, but it’s probably a good time to check out your old collection and make sure it’s legit.

During the original Pokemon craze in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, fake cards were nearly as prevalent as real ones. Back then, the TCG market was incredibly young and much easier to manipulate. Magic had only been around a few years when the Pokemon TCG started, which catapulted the TCG hobby into the mainstream in a way no one could have expected or prepared for. With an insatiable demand and an inexperienced audience, the Pokemon TCG was ripe especially vulnerable to coun🅘terfeits.

Have you ever wondered why everyone says they had a First Edition Holographic Charizard when they were a kid? Some actually did, some are probably lying, but a lot of those people had fake cards. Even if you only bought fresh boost𓃲er packs from big box retail stores like Target and Wal❀mart, chances are you still got tons of fakes. It would be a huge scandal if Walmart was selling fake cards today, but back then, big box stores unknowingly carried fake cards all the time.

If you still have your old Pokemon card collection, chances are a lot of them are fake, especially the rare ones. This happened to me too. I was incredibly proud of my collection growing up, and in particular a First Edition Raichu misprint. The ‘1st’ stamp was in the wrong place, and for years I searched for information about it and always came up empty-handed. I truly believed I had a one-of-a-kind Pokemon card, until a few years ago when it finally dawned on me that it might be fake. Tur🌄ned out it was, along with most people’s childhood cards.

There’s a lot of ways to check if your cards are real. You don’t have to tear them in half and check the ink lines; that breaks down all of the different methods you can use to check for fakes. I keep all mine in a tin to use for comparison when I’m checking cards, and to teach other people what to look for. I probably have at least as many fake cards as the amount that got seized from that reseller, oddly 💛enough. Don’t worry, they’re not for sale.