I’m sorry to see this happen to so many people. Mercari has a lot of these types of scams floating around, not just limited to Pokemon cards. I buy a lot of Japanese music CDs and there’s a lot of counterfeits floating around with rarer doujin stuff too.
I’ve bought hundreds of items and thankfully never been scammed but it does require some extra due diligence on your own part. Here’s some stuff to look out for to help protect yourself when buying from Japanese second-hand marketplaces:
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Seller feedback is obviously very important. Look at not just the overall feedback rating but the number of feedback the seller has received as well. You ideally want both a high rating and a lot of feedback (100+ if not 1,000+ for more expensive items).
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On Buyee there’s an option to go to the actual Mercari page and view stuff like comments on the listing and reviews buyers have given the seller. Take a look and see if there’s other users asking about the item, how many people have favorited it and what sorts of reviews (positive and negative) the seller has received.
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Sometimes sellers will receive negative reviews for poor service (slow shipping) rather than sending you a defective or fake product. Good service is highly valued in Japanese culture so these tend to make up the bulk of negative reviews.
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Read the item description carefully. A lot of Japanese sellers are very upfront with any defects the item may have. Failure to disclose stuff like this can result in a negative review from other Japanese buyers, so many sellers will go out of their way to detail everything. Short descriptions can be a red flag, but not always so use your best judgement.
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Check if the listing has a lot of photos in good lighting. For sealed items, you want images of the front, back and sides (especially to inspect the wrap). Continuing the point above, it is in many Japanese sellers’ best interest to detail the product as accurately as possible. A single, poor-quality photo may be a cause for concern. If you require more photos, you can message the seller directly on Mercari and most will happily upload more to their listing.
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If the listing has a ton of hashtags with terms unrelated to the actual item ( 「リザードン」 (Charizard) or 「リーリエ」 (Lillie) are common ones), you may want to be weary. It’s not always a cause for concern but use your best judgement.
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Learning some kanji and basic Japanese grammar is a lifesaver. Translation sites like DeepL will work, but knowing at a glance that something like「新品」means “new goods” can save you a lot of headache when buying sealed product.
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Above all, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is. The Japanese market is slightly different from Western ones, but for the most part a lot of prices lines up.