Possibly fake CGC Pristine Slabs

I’ve personally not seen fake CGC slabs before but ZnG recently had this slab rejected by ebay authenticity.

If true, be careful out there!

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This is a problem that all grading companies have exposure to and will probably just get worse over time. Amazing that the ebay authenticity caught it though

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Same, I’m impressed PSA actually caught this.. I imagine they receive a large volume of slabs for authenticity.

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I wonder if PSA made a mistake with the authenticity… But who knows. I’m sure it’s probably fake, they’re the professionals but sometimes holos look different with different angles of light sources.

The position of the dots you’re pointing to is not the same

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I think the clearest indication (so far) is the different sized QR code on the back of the label:

What’s scary is that the holograms on both sides of the label are convincing imo.

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It’s mind blowing that they can convincingly create textured numbers, hologram sticker patterns, font sizes, label colors etc but then mess up the size of the QR code

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tbh i thought the same, how come you create a masterpiece of a fake and fail on, probably, the easiest part, right?

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I assume they are intentional errors. In the watch market for example, counterfeiters imitate certain details incorrectly and then correct them in subsequent versions to sell more versions of the same fake to the same customer.

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CGC labels have differently sized QR codes. I’m not sure if there is a rhyme or reason, but that is definitely not an indicator of faked slabs. RIP to all of the eBay sellers who will now have buyers claiming that their CGC slabs are fake because of this video.


The major indicator here is the incorrect holo pattern (orb placement is obviously off), and it just so happens that the QR code was also wrong. Everything else looks convincingly real.


What a nightmare… This is why scans obtained during grading are so important. It’s frustrating that so many of my PSA slabs and every BGS slab in my collection have no origin scans to assure future buyers.

Just another thing to heighten the anxiety of buyers/sellers. :face_exhaling:

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this whole thing seems weird to me… why does everything on the slab look so real except for the different size qr code which is like super obvious… is the ancient mew inside a fake card or a real one that the condition is good enough that no one noticed its not a pristine… and why would u fake an ancient mew of all things :rofl:

i also find it hard to believe that the fakers cant even get the PSA label font right but they can replicate a cgc pristine label which is way more sophisticated

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I would definitely say label inconsistencies are not a red flag on their own for the big three but discrepancies with the scans, well of course are. Really bizarre, I wonder if we’ll get a statement 2 months down the road.. lol

@tidaldreams I know right? Why not fake a Kingdra prime instead :rofl:

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Occam’s razor suggests that this is probably a very convincing fake, but how crazy would it be if cgc accidentally graded 2 pristine ancient mews with the same cert and it somehow slipped through QC and their database.

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Thought about this one for a lil bit

Its probably a real card, tag and grade

Likely purchased the real pristine 10. Since it was perfect the scammer could send it back to get another pristine grade

He would follow this up wih buying a (much cheaper) psa 9 level card and using the discarded pristine label with a replica case

Thats the beauty of scans though. Now they can catch this more easily

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