Which stage of denial is Xiao currently in?
30 Likes
I underwent surgery yesterday, and this thread has certainly kept me preoccupied whilst I can’t sleep.
A serious congratulations to all who have contributed their time and resources to piecing together this fiasco, this at least shows the fantastic resolve of the efour community in the face of adversity and monetary loss.
A heartfelt sorry to all who are wrapped up in this mess.
Maybe this is a little naive in thinking, but for those who are out of pocket, could a credit card chargeback be an option for you?
12 Likes
Hes not in denial. Hes just a bored billionaire. Not worth your time but its possible if you stir the pot enough hell post more pics of the factory they were made in
21 Likes
fyi you can click on the filter button in the user card to only show posts from that user in a thread
14 Likes
Ooh, didn’t know about this, thanks!
4 Likes
I’ve been lurking and just made an account to try and contribute.
there is a way to solve the mystery of HQ and alpha dot but it might require the destruction of cards.
The glue used on the cards isn’t going to be the same between 1996 and 2024. The glue fan be fingerprinted using a mass spectrometer. You can compare the glue finger print of the cards made in 1996 to the glue on the other cards. you can also test out types of glues that might be used on cards in 2024 and isolate the brand. I really really doubt that the scammers had access to the same glue in 2024 and if they did it probably isn’t the same formula and would have a different finger print.
Universities have mass-spects but you need a scientist ( chemist), professor, graduate student , teaching assistant and permission for them to use the device.
32 Likes
There’s some literature about printer identification from the microscopic spray of ink but it seemed too deep of a rabbithole to dig in.
8 Likes
Just a quick update. I had heard of rumors about other variants that popped up but haven’t seen anything about them until now. Sean sent me the images below of this “gamma variant”. We’re really making our way though the Greek alphabet here.
41 Likes
The only thing I notice different close up is very small darker spots all over. IDK if that is a more modern fingerprinting tech that is much smaller 
? Pretty sure it is just particles in the paper fiber at this zoom.
9 Likes
Buy for $200, CGC offers refund and he gets market value, which would presumably be over $200/card.
Trying to rip off people who have already been through the wringer is pretty shitty
41 Likes
Since it’s late at night, and we’re currently in a quiet period waiting for new information to come to light (i.e. CGC’s expected action plan and investigative findings ahem), I thought I’d share that over the past decade I’ve been active on E4, approximately 20% of my total time here has been spent in the last 72 hours:
Thanks @pfm @HumanForScale for your research & analyses and for everyone else’s engagement in what is currently (and hopefully remains) the largest scam in this hobby’s history. Hopefully the big wigs at BlackStone will be made aware of what proper methods of investigation and authentication look like, even without CCG’s “Tech-Enabled Authentication.”
I am now going to go touch some grass until new information pops up.
Thanks again,
cpbog1
20 Likes
Thank you for the share, I thought this was strange too so I analysed the images myself and was able to replicate your findings.
Here is a visual explainer of the oddity.
15 Likes
Those are alpha playtest, not beta
7 Likes
Thanks, fixed it
5 Likes
I kinda love the look of beach Blastoise
6 Likes
There’s also another picture of this card from April 2024 (before the signature).
I’m not sure if it’ll help 
It looks a lot more used than the one from November.
8 Likes
