Police have started to crack down on counterfeit Pikachus and Charizards as earlier this week, in Annaka City, Japan, police were led to an overhaul of 1,000 cards believed to be fake. The 1,000 allegedly fake Pokémon cards included various Pokémon merchandise as well. The 21-year-old suspect had been caught selling a few of the cards for hundreds of dollars.
First spotted by the card fansite Pokébeach, Japanese news outlets reported that the police had been tipped off to the alleged overhaul of counterfeit Pokémon cards by a past buyer. The man in question apparently sold four fake Pokémon cards to two customers in October 2022, earning around $1,250 dollars for those fake cards. His customers naturally grew curious about the legitimacy of those cards and contacted the police. This is when Nintendo got involved in the whole situation. Media reports say Nintendo asked the Mario maker to appraise the card’s validity during the investigation. After confirming the illegitimate status of the Pokémon cards, police visited the suspect’s home where they found 1,000 fake cards, 400 of which were from the Pokémon trading card game.
The counterfeit cards included both Japanese and English versions of the cards, ranging from the original 151 set Mewtwos to the highly coveted full-art rainbow Charizards from Sun and Moon’s Burning Shadows expansion. The seller took to the internet to sell them online but police are still not sure where the seller got the cards from or where they were printed.
Creatures Inc., a company that partially owns Pokémon, announced last month that they would be working in tandem with online marketplaces to crack down on counterfeit card sales. They are quoted in saying, “The production and sale of these products for the purpose of profit interferes with the normal provision of Pokémon card game products and services, and we will take measures to suspend sales and take legal action in cooperation with the operating company of the sales service platform.” The company also wrote on their website, “We are proceeding with response, investigation, and consideration.”