Just buy all your cards through ebay and their authenticity guarantee. You can’t lose.
@boostz, I think there’s a misunderstanding here: Whether convincing fakes ever exist isn’t a matter of how much the tech advances, because the tech has been here for 25 years already. Rather, it depends on whether someone can gather the resources to replicate that tech. And frankly, I don’t see it happening because if it were possible, it should have happened in 2020/2021 already because there was more than enough monetary incentive to do so.
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Were the GS legendary dogs fake? I thought they were just stolen from the factory.
I think the point was that in order to sell a convincing fake at scale, you have to dump many copies onto the market which would be detectable to experienced buyers, an example being the goldstars.
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To say something in favour of @boostz 's argument, I remember Pokérevs Neo1 box break, which turned out to be a fake box, with fake packs and fake cards. The craftmanship on that box was incredibly high compared to 99% of what is out there (have we been able to identify any others from the same source? If not, ask yourself why not?). Here his comparison to the real deal. And while it would never slip past E4, who is to say that with enough time and improvement it wouldn’t become indistinguishable?
These are the kinds of cards I would counterfeit. Japanese holos from neo sets mostly go for sub 100$, there are plenty out there so the influx wouldn’t be noticable. At that price most people don’t pay super close attention. At least for some selling platforms with little accountability this could pose a threat.
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@expedition, So ironic you mention the exact video that inspired me to create this thread. This is exactly what I’m talking about.
If the sequence of the cards in booster packs is randomized with full set replication (and better optimized), who is to say most people wouldn’t get duped? For raw singles card values under the eBay Authentication threshold, how many hands would would these cards pass through before they’re discovered as fake? How many employees at card grading companies would let the these slip through the authentication process before it’s too late?
What if someone is already creating perfect fakes and nobody has realised…
www.youtube.com/watch?v=15gsDW6i97c
This video shows how hard it is to replicate the rosette pattern printed onto the card with all the different layers etc
I did see a guy on instagram who managed to replicate the holo patterns suprisingly well with custom fake cards though
Something I have wondered recently is, is it easier to fake a sealed WOTC booster pack than a card? It could be done either by printing your own or resealing a real one with a crimp (which is usually obvious with glue)?
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If there are fakes around, it means that there is demand and the TCG is going strong.
The single threat is people losing interest in the TCG because there are many other ways to enjoy Pokemon.
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Fake cards not so much a threat, but fake 1st Edition stamps sure. Some previously found in PSA holders. Surely with enough capital it cannot be that difficult to replicate a 1st Edition stamp within acceptable tolerances? Would love to be corrected if wrong.
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Well, here’s the thing. In the language of lawyers, “it depends”.
Faking cards to the point of them being indistinguishable from real cards can be done, but it takes herculean efforts that essentially means it CANNOT be done.
You need to get the graphite core of the cards right.
Then you need to have the supplier of the holo layer stock on board as well, which, well, they have their reputations on the line and will not sell to anyone other than the Pokemon company. You can’t walk up to them and be like “hey, can I just have…y’know, 500 sheets of cardstock identical to the ones that the Pokemon Company International orders for their top-selling franchise of trading card games?”
You need to get the recto and verso sides of the cardstock right, which means getting the cardstock from an official supplier, which you can be sure doesn’t sell that cardstock to anyone but the Pokemon company because of their contracts, for reasons mentioned above.
Then you need the right CYMK printers, with the correct spalling quotient, and the right offset.
Billion dollar contracts are not violated willingly by the parties involved, there is too much at stake. Leaks are always a possibility, but you need everything to line up to make fake cards, which is highly unlikely.
This is why fakes are easily identifiable, especially early WOTC prints.
TPCI knows all of this. Modern prints have other features built into them that prevent counterfeiting, which are more complex and harder to replicate. These modern features are well known among those involved in this industry.
Whether is it dollar bills or trading cards, technology iterates and progresses.
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Others have mentioned, but to reiterate simply - there is a lot that goes into making a “real cards”, i dont think this will ever be a problem because its just an issue of economics. official cards are far beyond just “ink on some cardboard”
How do you match the card stock? the ink? the rosette from the industrial printers? You cant just pop into home depot / staples and buy this stuff. Its all commercial product, not consumer product. and no ones going to sell it to you anyway.
to replicate the cards 100% you would have to open up your own printing facility. Why would you spend $10M to print fake cards and then get all your stuff shut down and seized, etc… the risk/reward here is wildly disproportionate - it not that its impossible, it just that no logical person would ever this.
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avatar checks out
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beat me to it! Such stellar advice! 
Ultimately, I don’t think this has explicitly been said, while the argument has certainly been made to prove it: In order to perfectly fake a card, you have to be so invested, both in time and money, not just on the front-end, but on the beck-end as well, to avoid suspicion, Even If it’s not suspicion of you, personally, that it requires a long-game so long, that the return is simply not worth the effort over time. And then, it’ll only pay-off IFF it IS perfect…
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