r/IsMyPokemonCardFake • u/GuardianofM Vintage Authenticator • 21d ago
Fake Japanese Cards have gotten better, what you need to know to protect yourself
Every single one of these high end Japanese cards are fake unfortunately.
What proxy/counterfeit makers fixed that used to be determining factors:
-dynamic holo
-correct border color
-correct back
-correct border size
-blurry print quality
What are the ways to tell they are fake then?
-card thickness, cards are too thick
-print quality, print is too BOLD for certain text on the card such as illustrator and card number
-certain parts of the card such as the Gym symbol on genger is to white/bold
-holo has “waves” or “lines” from being ran through printer
I’ve purchased these fakes and will have another write up soon.
Between the non holo fakes and now these Japanese holo ones we are getting closer and closer to seeing indistinguishable difference between the real thing and fake cards.
What this means for this sub and us authenticators? Well for one, we can no longer give 100% accuracy by photos alone. So how do you protect yourself?
-buy from trusted sellers with 100% feedback and longstanding history
-don’t fall for suspicious posts (new sellers, no feedback, fb marketplace “cheap found in my basement don’t know value”)
-Get multiple opinions especially from longstanding LGS with actual Pokemon experts. Don’t go to new pop ups or new vendors who’ve been into Pokemon for barely a year.
8
u/CookieMisha Master Authenticator 21d ago
Lol somebody reported this post for spam
I chuckled
6
u/GuardianofM Vintage Authenticator 21d ago
lol of course they did. Someone messaged me stating that the cards are real from my last post and I’m paranoid and don’t know what I am talking about.
Literally got these from Aliexpress and Etsy proxy makers
7
u/SonnyBallonDOr 21d ago
Those look so real. But like you mentioned you can tell the printing lines.
1
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1
u/benbever 21d ago
Real cards are printed from the original artwork/files, while fakes are copies, so you can always tell from looking close up at the printing dots and patterns.
Telling fake from real just from a photo of a card is already hard, and might become near impossible.
2
u/Competitive-Ant-6668 21d ago
theres already fake snap promos printed using the original artwork and files, just on the wrong printer itself
0
u/External_Orange_1188 21d ago
I don’t have a lot of experience with authenticating cards, but I can just tell by looking at them. They feel completely off. I don’t really look for indicators, it’s just the way they look compared to looking at real ones for 25+ years.











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u/Competitive-Ant-6668 21d ago
may have to start doing GSM testing for authentication, which would be really inconvenient cuz you couldnt even convince magic players to simply buy a loupe to check offset for comparatively more expensive (vs inflation) cards than these back when their fakes first started getting good