2024 was a great year for Pokémon Tcg collectors, the “Pocket Monster” collectible card game: one of its creators, Takumi Akabane, has put some prototype pieces on sale directly from its personal collection. Too bad that a few days ago a user discovered that some of these cards are replicas. A millionaire scam.
A Pokémon card, sold as certified prototype For thousands of dollars, it turned out to be a false: a deception that has shocked the collectible playing cards sector. It all started in 2024, when the market – mainly American – of Pokémon TCG collectors welcomed a series of Beta cards coming from Personal Collection of Takumi Akabaneone of the founders and artist designer of the game.
Let’s talk about pieces dating back to before 1996the year in which the basic set of Pokémon TGC arrives in Japan, which depict the drafts of the cards then become canonical. To validate everything the signature of Akanabe himself on some pieces and the certification of the CGC (Certified Guaranty Company). These details allow the high value of the various units of the collection, according to Kotaku attestable between 1,000 and 200,000 dollars. In practice, a turnover with a millionaire scope. In the past, other scams for Pokémon cards were based on missed shipments or fake payments.
How the scam was discovered
A few days ago the end of the dream came: a user known as PFMas well as owner of one of the beta cards in question, he discovered that many of them are false. As proof of his statement, PFM has published the Beta Nidoqueen printing stenography. It is a series of dots, left by the printer at the time of the creation of the image, which contain information on the series number of the machine, as well as the date of the printing. Well, according to the stenography of Nidoqueen Beta, The paper dates back to 2024not in the 90s. In the collection there are therefore fakes that collectors has also paid 20,000 dollarsas in the case of the paper of Pikachu Beta.
The Pokémon game that triggered a new mania: this time the cards are all digital
Pokémon Scam | The printing stenography of Beta Nidoqueen
Who organized the scam
The fault is not to be attributed to Akabanewho collaborated with CGC to validate the authenticity of the collection, but to scammers who have been able to replicate the original prototypes in an almost perfect way. Meanwhile, the CGC It was mobilized through a press release, asking anyone in possession of the beta cards of return them to the agency In order to carry out a more in -depth analysis. “CGC is aware of the recent relationships that question the authenticity of some Pokémon Prototype and Playtest cards. We take these statements very seriously and are leading an in -depth investigation “reports the press release. “The cards in question represent less than 0.03% cards evaluated by CGC “.
There are two good news, therefore: the first is that i False represent a small percentagethe second is that CGC is adopting to offer greater clarity. This does not mean that the collectors have been Screed for thousands of dollarsconvinced that you have a real piece of history in your hands Pokémon TCG.
